


Things Which Mean Something

by FivePips



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Politics, American Political Dynasty, American Politics, Angst, Banter, Biracial Character, Biracial Remus, Boston, Boston references, Campaigning, Congress, Current Events, Democrat, Enemies, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Friendship, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Non-supportive Families, Past Drug Addiction, Political Campaigns, Politics, Single Mother Hope Lupin, Sirius has a lot to work out, Slow Burn, Texting, Twitter, a fic no one asked for, campaign, it's a love story really, it's killing me more than it's killing you, oblivious idiots, they take a couple chapters to actually meet, tweets, when they meet it's all down (or up) hill from there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-28
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-05-28 15:43:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 45,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19397230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FivePips/pseuds/FivePips
Summary: Wherein The Blacks are the Kennedys and Remus is a millennial running for office up against Sirius. Needless to say, they don’t see eye to eye on many things outside of the basics -- even those are fuzzy. Well, that’s what it seems like at least. OR how Remus and Sirius met and fell in love during a strange time in their lives."Sometimes I wonder if we shall ever grow up in our politics and say definite things which mean something, or whether we shall always go on using generalities to which everyone can subscribe, and which mean very little."--Eleanor Roosevelt





	1. Chapter 1

Sometimes things just don’t go as you planned it. Be it the ordering a Coke and getting a Pepsi, the Presidential Election, or falling for someone you probably shouldn’t fall for. All of those could throw you off kilter to different extents. The soda might annoy you but the other two could change your world radically.

“Don’t let the bastards get you down, Moony.” Pete said as they were closing up the bar for the night. A Bachelor’s in PoliSci with a minor in Philosophy and a Master’s in International Affairs, both from Boston University, wasn’t enough for Remus to get properly paid to afford to live in Boston. He was still picking up shift’s at Pete’s parents' bar while he worked full time at a non-profit.

It didn’t help that Remus needed some extra cash since he had the brilliant drunken idea to run for fucking congress one night. After watching Knock Down the House he cried into a bottle of wine feeling full of hope then began to research how to run for Congress. It was a horrible idea. But a brilliant one, and one that he was insanely passionate about and one that his friends were standing right behind him with.

“God, I don’t stand a chance in hell though now.” Remus said watching the newest of his opponents on the lone TV that was left on — Sirius Black.

Sirius Black was from the long running Black political dynasty. He was Remus’ age, 29 almost 30, and looked exactly like the type of person who summers on The Vineyard. Far flung from Remus’ mixed race, single working mom, Roxbury born and bred background. Sirius was basically his antithesis even though they were in the same party. The Black family were Democrats but always stayed close to the center, nothing close to Remus’ fairly socialist platform. Though, running as a socialist wasn’t an option in America because people were idiots, so he had to run as a Democrat. But that was fine, there were plenty of new progressive Dems that were popping up all over that place, who had similar views as him.

Anyway, Sirius was the heir to the political throne in New England. His father had recently retired from his Senate seat due to undisclosed health problems, now it seemed to be Sirius’ turn to take the reins in the family. They were the type of politicians that gave answers just good enough for everyone. Bland answers but since they were good looking and charming, they seemed to get away with so much. Remus didn’t want to know the types of dirty money and back door dealings this group had done in the past, present, and future.

Since Sirius was a Black, and Boston loved the family for some reason, Remus knew that he had no chance in hell in getting the seat. Granted, it started as a lark after watching the documentary. Remus was fed up with everything going on with President Riddle’s leadership. The man was a warmonger who was holding child hostage at the borders in “detention centers” while wreaking havoc on the economic system while being a completely vile human being and getting away with it all somehow. His followers were mindless assholes who couldn’t be changed.

Remus still wanted to try to change things. Even though he was a jaded millennial who hated everything, he still had that little bit of hope inside of him. Maybe that was Obama speaking to him when he was 18 and voting for the first time? Somehow it was still resonating. Granted, Obama wasn’t perfect, but he was better than this current climate. Going in the complete and opposite direction of what was started wasn’t any good.

“You never know. Man, I’m sure those dicks have some fucking skeletons in their closets. Can you imagine what goes on in their homes or on the Black Compound?” Pete shuddered as he turned the television off. “Come on, let’s get home. You have some fundraising to do tomorrow! Woohoo!”

Surprisingly, Remus felt like he was doing fairly well. He was able to articulate and connect with people he was meeting in his district thus far. Even raising money, he was keeping the pace that the wanted to be doing. Dorcas, who was doing his finances was always telling him how great they were doing. Remus was sure that was all going to come crashing to a halt now with Sirius Black in the race.

“Tomorrow we’ll start getting into it and make a plan, right?”

It was April, and they had five months until the primary. Remus knew it wasn’t going to be easy to get to the election in November. There was no way he was going to be running against St. Sand, a local man who wore a box over his head and argued for lower rent. Granted, the man’s platform wasn’t all insane but some of his stances, like making sure all fish were fed every day were a bit off. St. Sand definitely wasn’t taking everything seriously. Now that Sirius was in, he had some competition.

They weren’t too worried about the Republican side of things, yet at least. The 7th District was historically blue. A Republican being voted in, in such a Democratic area would have been unheard of. But Remus thought Riddle never stood a chance against McGonagall in 2016, and yet where did that get them? Here. In some special type of hell Remus didn’t realize existed until now. He hoped 2020 would rectify everything, but that currently felt like a long shot, just as much as Remus felt like his chances of winning was a long shot.

Emmeline Vance, Minerva McGonagall, Caradoc Dearborn, Benjy Fenwick, and Horace Slughorn were all front runners for the Democratic party. They reflected the diverse field that had begun back in 2019. Vance was a young war veteran who had served two terms in the Senate for the state of California. McGonagall was running once more to take on Riddle. She was a smart woman, married to another smart woman. Dearborn was a middle aged African American gay man, former mayor of Detroit. Fenwick was a younger white man with a young family. Really a picture perfect Democrat, a little less progressive than the others but not terrible. Slughorn was the last man standing from the old guard. He had some decent ideas but said things that weren’t so great from time to time. Remus worried about all of them going up against Riddle. At the moment with the primaries nearly done, Vance, Fenwick, and Slughorn were the only ones with the most delegates.

The next morning Remus was sitting on the floor of his living room staring at Sirius Black’s campaign page with Dorcas and Pete. Fleur, his Social Media head was talking with Bill and Charlie, who didn’t have an official title yet but were always helping out. Alice, his official right hand woman was sitting with Frank, her husband and permenant fixture on the campaign, talking about an event next week.

“God, this website is as pretty as Sirius Black.” Dorcas whistled as she clicked around.

“Probably just as empty as him too. Platform-wise I mean.” Remus said as they clicked around, not seeing a place that explicitly said what he felt. “Where the fuck is his platform?”

“It’s probably the same as daddy’s.”

“Don’t use daddy like that, you’ll ruin it for real Daddy’s.” Frank half heartedly complained.

“Sure he has some daddy issues.”

“Can we stop saying daddy?” Hestia complained as she came through the door. Hestia was his main person for community outreach. “What are we going to do about Black?” She dropped the bag that had been slung over her shoulder on the floor that sat on the sofa. Her pink hair was pulled back into a ballerina bun.

“Anyone know any good dirty little secrets?”

“Aside from what everyone knows about the family, yet still somehow over looks?” Dorcas asked with a raised eyebrow.

The Black Family had a sordid, long history. Sirius’ father crashed a car into a river, probably drunk, and let the girl die. Somehow, the world was able to look over this little fact. Arcturus Black, the Black that became President, regularly cheated on his wife with a famous film star at the time. Sirius’ little brother was in and out of rehab, but it was always brushed under the rug. Walburga Black was caught saying that she’d die if either of her sons were gay. YET NONE OF THAT MATTERED. It was as if Remus and a few others that were the only seeing the bad stuff.

“I’d love to see Remus get on stage with this guy and verbally undress him.” Peter pointed to the computer.

“Wow, sounds like something you’re into there, Pettigrew.” Alice laughed.

“I get off on Remus’ policy talk,” Pete said then choked on his own laughter.

“Really, would it be great for them to get on a stage together? We need to push for a debate.” Fleur said, clicking her pen. “I’ve heard Sirius talk before and he sounds as fake as the rest of the family.”

“Okay, I think we need to worry less about Sirius and more about me… wow that sounded narcissistic.” Remus made a face.

“No, I know what you mean.” Dorcas said. “You have some fundraising to do today. We have to make some phone calls. Then we can do some knocking.”

“I’ll go out and annoy some college kids again today. I got a bunch registered the other afternoon.” Charlie said.

“Sounds like a good idea.”

“I’m working on getting you into some Easter event in Cambridge.” Bill told the group. “I think we need to focus there right now since that’s where Sirius lives because of course he lives in Cambridge.”

“I’ll wear my nicest clothes and shiniest shoes and fakest smile.”

“Lots gel in your hair.”

“Maybe a pastel polo and khakis.”

“Just try to be wicked white.”

“Yes, I’ll pretend I’m not half Mexican,” Remus shrugged.

***

“Motherfucking bastard.” Sirius swore as he saw the train pull away as they hit the last step on the stairs. “The fucking T is always late except on the day I need it to be late.”

“Sirius, you’re running for office you might want to keep your public swearing to a minimum now that you’re officially running for office.” Regulus laughed as they moved down the platform to wait for the next train.

Sirius didn’t want to run for office… yet, at least. It was only because he was the next logical choice in the family. Regulus wasn’t going to get elected with his past. He was in and out of “wellness centers” and had been caught sleeping with the Senate Majority Leader’s son a few years back — not that the last one got published anywhere but would be if he ran. His other cousins lived in New York and California. He was the last Boston Black to represent the area, and he had to fulfill his familial obligation. Even most days he didn’t feel like he wanted it, but was else was Sirius going to do?

“It won’t matter because our mother is going to kill us for being late for our first day on the campaign trail.” Sirius looked at his watch. Black campaigns were practically militant. They were so well practiced and well versed in all the ways of the system, they knew exactly what to do and when to do it. That included Sirius’ announcement that he was running following Dumbledore’s announcement that he was going to retiring at the end of his term back in March. Since his dad left office last year because his memory was starting to go, Sirius knew it was inevitable. The House seat was the perfect opportunity for him.

The family was annoyed with Lupin declaring he was running for the seat just a week after Dumbledore’s announcement. They thought it was too soon to jump in the old man’s grave. Sirius thought it was a smart move for him. No one knew who he was and he needed to establish himself to gain traction that Sirius was born with. He was the male version of AOC, which was going to play well the young, progressive demographic of the district. No one in the family seemed worried about Lupin though.

“I’m not on. I’m not at a campaign event or anything.” Sirius complained, taking out his phone.

“Sirius, you’re 29. You should know that we all live our lives on our phones and people have been recorded doing plenty of dumb things.”

“If the President of the United States can talk about women the way he has on tape amongst other things and not have any repercussions, then I think I’m going to be okay for swearing a little bit.” Sirius rolled his eyes.

“Don’t bring that up to anyone at the office.”

“I know, we remain neutral on Riddle.” Sirius repeated what had been drilled into his head over and over again by campaign staff, and his parents.

Sirius wondered what Riddle had on the Blacks or what they were providing for each other. There had to be some mutual agreement. His dad probably worked with him in some way that Sirius was never going to find out because no one talked about anything like that with him. They all knew that Sirius had some type of moral compass, which was helpful for running against someone like Lupin they all figured, but not for the rest of his career. Remus Lupin seemed to be guided completely by his morals. Clearly he had no political experience or anything that he was tied to.

“We remain neutral with everything.” Reg muttered, looking up at the board to see how long it was going to take for the next train to get there.

_Delayed — 15 minutes_

Really, Sirius should have gotten on to city council or run for mayor or something instead. He just wanted to fix the T and other problems the city faced most of the time. Jesus Christ if he had to wait for another late train, he'd jump on the tracks.

“Man, why didn’t we Uber?”

“No, the traffic getting over to the office would have made us even later.” Sirius shook his head. “Also, there’s plenty of issues between Uber and the cab drivers in this city. I don’t want to wade into the pool at the moment. If anything, we’d do a cab.”

“We should get a helicopter.”

“Yeah, sure, let’s make sure we flaunt out wealth just a little bit more.” Sirius tried his best to connect with the average day person. More so than the rest of his family. He went out of his way to use public transportation. He never flew first class. He made sure to take the chance to visit all the places his family had never gone. He tried to understand his privilege, and was still trying to get a grasp on it.

“Right, connect to The People.”

“You don’t know who The People are.”

“You do?” Regulus raised an eyebrow. “I know you have to pretend you know the people but there’s no way that you know more than me.”

“Just because I didn’t go through a couple of rounds of rehab doesn’t mean I haven’t lived.”

“Fuck off, Sirius.” He took his phone out of his pocket. “You’re such an asshole sometimes.”

“I know.” It ran in his blood, of course he was an asshole. The trait was probably genetic, just like being a politician. Reg shouldn’t be shocked because he was as much of an asshole as Sirius could be.

“Lupin’s doing some Easter community shit.” Regulus said while staring at his phone, finger thumbing up as he scrolled.

“How do you know?”

“The event just posted about it.”

“Is he going to be wearing the bunny suit?” Sirius laughed at the idea.

“I hope so.”

“You mean that you _hop_ so.” Sirius grinned at his brother who didn’t even give a tiny smile. He needed someone in his life who loved his puns as much as he did.

Eventually, the train came and Sirius was off to his office not too far from the State House. It overlooked to Common, and Sirius wished that he could be outside enjoying the nice weather instead of talking about raising money for his campaign. As he expected, his mother was annoyed by the fact her sons were late on their first day but said she knew it was going to happen.

“You always let me down somehow.” Walburga let out a long suffering sigh as if Sirius had been some horrible child.

Instead of speaking up about it, Sirius just looked over the projections of how much they needed to raise, and how much Lupin had. “That’s not a lot.”

“He’s beating the streets of Somerville and Chelsea and Everett.” His mother said the names of the towns as if they were toxic and real people didn’t live there.

“That’s his voting bloc, of course he is.” Sirius reminded them.

Lupin wasn’t stupid, Sirius had researched him plenty before announcing his candidacy yesterday. Remus graduated with a 4.0 from BU for god sakes. He was some kind of all star at Boston Latin, starting a sustainability club that got the school to put in solar panels to cut costs. He was well spoken, and personable. There was a long list of extracurricular, community and academic awards, and references from various people.

The man’s background was also interesting to Sirius. Remus’ second generation Mexican-American nurse mother raised him in Roxbury and he worked three jobs to get through college. Then even after he graduated he was slinging beers at his friend’s bar when he wasn’t working for a non-profit company that focused on LGBT global rights. He was also bi, out and proud. Sirius wished that he could be out and proud, but that would ruin the family narrative.

Sirius wondered what it was like to be Remus Lupin. He wondered if he were raised the same way, would have ended up in politics?

“We want to avoid anywhere Lupin is.”

“Why?” Sirius furrowed his brow at what Barty, Regulus current secret boyfriend.

“You don’t want it to seem like you’re at the same table.”

“We are at the same table, we’re both Democrats.” Sirius reminded them all.

“He’s a socialist.” His mother shook her head.

“I think a Democratic Socialist is probably a closer mark, but we don’t have a strong party for that here in the US.” Sirius corrected her to make sure the facts were straight.

“Yes, and that’s not something we need to be associated with.”

Sirius groaned inwardly. How was he supposed to run against someone that his family wanted to act like didn’t exist? Just running on his platform was not going to be good enough (he knew that because he didn’t think his own platform was good enough). But he needed to show why his platform was better than Lupin’s for the people who would think that way. Or why he was a better candidate than Lupin. They couldn’t do that if they ignored the other man. This seemed like it was going to be a big mistake.

“We need to do a few more photo shoots and photo ops for pamphlets and leaflets.” Someone else said at the other end of the long table of the bland conference room.

“We’re not mentioning Lupin. We’re not even acting as if we have anything to run against. This is Sirius’ seat.” His mother said. “I don’t want any ads mentioning other candidates.”

For some reason, Sirius was sure this was all going to come back and bite them in the ass. Normally, when Sirius avoided things the bubbled up until he couldn’t handle it anymore. He went to therapy for plenty of things that he couldn’t deal with loudly. Therapy wasn’t going to fix the mistake of ignoring something that he was running a congressional race against.


	2. Chapter 2

“Who on earth drank all the fucking almond milk?” Dorcas closed the refrigerator with a bang. “I’m dying for some coffee and I don’t want it black.”

“There’s regular creamer in there.” Remus yelled out from his room, where he was debating on if he should wear a tie or not. He felt like he wasn’t a tie type of guy. At the same time, it felt like he needed to wear a tie if he wanted to appear to be a real adult running for Congress. Really, this shouldn’t have been something to worry about because it was so superficial.

“What the hell kind of millennial are you, dude?” Frank snorted a laugh. Remus could hear him typing away on his MacBook as he normally was. Remus had no idea what he was writing, but he was always good for speeches and what not. Maybe he was preparing for something.

“The kind of millennial that lives with Pete, who drinks regular creamer and hates the taste of anything else. The almond milk is mine, yet you all drink it on me. Bring your own dairy alternatives next time you come through the door, huh?” Remus looked at the navy tie in his hand then sighed. “Do I wear a tie?”

At the same time from the living room/kitchen there was a mix of ‘no’ and ‘yes’. Then complete silence. So much for surrounding himself with vocal people who always gave their opinion on everything. They could talk about an alternative to dairy creamer all day, but were silent when it came to a tie?

“Right, okay, not helpful, guys.” Remus stalked back out into the living room where Frank, Alice, Hestia, and Dorcas were sitting. Everyone else was either meeting them at the Easter picnic or working from home for the day. “Do I wear a tie to this thing?”

Hestia looked at him with a furrowed brow. “Yes, absolutely, but not that one. Something softer. It’s for Easter. So, a lighter blue if you’re doing blue.”

“Okay.” He sighed, then headed back to his room.

This wasn’t the first event that Remus had gone to, but some nerves were fluttering in his gut more so than the last one. Maybe it was because this was his first event since Sirius came on to the scene. The latest polls from Suffolk showed Sirius had a 35 point lead. Honestly, Remus thought that was close compared to what he thought it was going to be when Sirius announced his candidacy.

From this point on, Remus needed to crush every single event that he attended. He needed to make connections by being himself and tell the world who he was and what his beliefs were. Remus was sure that he was a better candidate than Sirius was because he had the passion in him. Sirius didn’t look as if he cared. The man he was running against seemed to a political robot — almost like that guy Ben and April worked for on Parks and Rec. Okay, that was harsh because Sirius was a little less plastic.

Remus did not want to be seen as someone who spat out the same lines over and over again. He was a real person, not someone who spit out recycled soundbites. Politics were about people in the community and country as a whole. Remus was sure he was naive and ignoring the way Washington ran. Maybe Washington was going to change if more people like him were elected. There were people in there who were already thinking the same way Remus did. If Sirius was elected, it would just be more of the same old same old.

“We’re stopping at Dunks on the way.”

“Fine.” Remus said as he came back out to the kitchen, his tie done and ready to go.

“I liked the tweet last night.” Alice spoke as the group started to get their stuff to head out the door.

Remus has tweeted in response to something Riddle said about his “detention camps” provided toothbrushes and soap for the families kept there. As much as Twitter could be harmful, at this point it was helpful in getting his message out. “It wasn’t too sarcastic?”

> **_RJLupin - 12 hrs ago_ **   
>  _Thank god. Who needs basic human rights when you have toothbrushes and soap? The US needs a new immigration plan right now. We also need to hold the Riddle administration accountable for this disgusting human rights violation._

“No, it was perfect. The people who are going to vote for you, will like that stuff.” Hestia grabbed her bag as Remus headed for his door. “Don’t worry about the assholes who don’t agree because they’re not going to like this no matter what. They’re Riddle followers anyhow.”

“I know.” Remus agreed with her. “It’s the people who are undecided between me and Sirius that I worry about.”

“When they realize that you’re a real boy and not a puppet, then we’ll pick you over him any freaking day.” Hestia reminded him as they went down the stairs. “We need to look for a legitimate office. We can’t run your campaign out of your apartment anymore, Remus.”

“Do we have the money for it?” Remus asked with a furrowed brow.

“Yeah, we’re good.” Dorcas said. “I’m sure I can find something with a temporary lease for us to use that’s not too expensive somewhere in the district. Worse comes to worst, we’ll use the basement of The Burrow.” The Burrow was Pete’s family’s bar.

“Funny. Though it could be helpful when I need to make some extra money.” Remus snickered as they got onto the street. It was a blistering day for April. “Hey, did you know that we’re imagining climate change?”

“Totally.” Frank scoffed. “You ready for the event?”

They stopped when they got to Remus’ beat up car Honda Civic parked on the street in front of the old house. Normally he’d take the T, but he didn’t want to risk possibly being late. “I’m ready.” He said before the all piled in, Dorcas driving.

“You seem off.” Alice pointed out. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing is wrong. All we do is talk to people all the time, we’re a damn grassroots campaign. I think I’m feeling a bit more aware of the gravity of everything now that a man who doesn’t stand at the entrance of the Garden yelling about the pigeon problem is running against me.”

“And here we thought you were scared of St. Sand.” Dorcas clicked her tongue as she pulled away from the curb.

“I’m not scared of Sirius Black, but I’m not stupid. The polls—”

“He has name recognition, you don’t plain and simple. That’s why we’re out here knocking and walking every fucking day. That’s why we’re getting to know small business owners and throwing flyers out and shit. That’s why we’re working with Justice Democrats and local community organizers like Flitwick and Hooch. That’s why you quit your day job and work more hours at Pete’s place in the middle of the night. We’re still working Remus, we’re not going to give up until you do. Fuck, I’m still going to go until you’re either defeated in September, or you win in November. Hell, you win, you’re stuck with us.”

“I think you’re stuck with us all the time.” Alice patted on the shoulder from the back seat. “Think we could get Sirius to sign a pledge to say he won’t accept corporate money?”

“Ha! Nope.” Remus let out a loud laugh. “The Blacks love their corporate money!”

“And franchise democrats.”

“Old time buddies from across the aisle, no matter how racist, sexist, and what not.” Dorcas adjusted her headscarf as they sat at a red light. “You really good, Moony?” She broke out the old nickname from college.

“I’m really good.” He took a deep breath.

Remus was fine because when he got to the Easter Picnic, he shook hands and talked about his ideas and plans for two hours. He met a few people who were interested in his campaign, who wanted more information. There were some that told him they were far more excited about him than Sirius Black. Things weren’t totally lost just because the rich pretty boy was running.

“You knocked it out of the park. We should call you Big Papi or whatever sports references you’d like me to dig up.” Alice laughed as they walked back to the car.

“He’s been in love with Patrice Bergeron since we were teens, I think that’d be the way to go.” Frank laughed. “Hockey reference… you scored like Bergy?”

“That sounds lame.” Remus said.

“Okay, so we have the Brand New Congress Summit coming up in just a matter of weeks.” Hestia got them all back on topic, not letting Remus feel like he had any type of success for a few moments.

“We know that, Hes, can we have a moment to breathe?”

“There is no breathing, Frank, there is only campaigning. It’s what we eat, sleep, and breathe. Oxygen is unneeded now.”

Hestia rolled her eyes and groaned. “You got that right. Now, let’s get to the car so we can plan your speech. I also want to make sure we log these people we just talked to so they don’t get lost in the shuffle properly.”

***

> **_RJLupin - 12 hrs ago_ **   
>  _Thank god. Who needs basic human rights when you have toothbrushes and soap? The US needs a new immigration plan right now. We also need to hold the Riddle administration accountable for this disgusting human rights violation._

Sirius reread the tweet for the hundredth time. He wondered how Remus’ team let him do something like that. It seemed so harsh and open and honest. Sirius’ twitter was completely controlled by his social media director. Everything was clean and hit the points on his plan. There was no passion there. Sirius wondered what it was like to let your passion out fully.

During high school and college, Sirius tried to live out his passions. Though, most of the time it was hidden from his parents and everyone else around him. He listened to music, painted and drew, drove motorcycles, and kissed every guy that let him. Sirius found himself in the dark corners of the Harvard library and in the woods of Germany and on the sandy beaches in Newport. He explored and discovered all these parts of himself all over the world, but knew he had to leave his family to become his own person with his own passions.

From day one, his path was chosen for him. He was the heir to the Black political throne, a throne that was built on lies and deceit. Sirius didn’t know a life outside of the family. He wasn’t sure how to escape it all. The Black legacy felt as if it would follow him wherever he went in this life because it had so far. His mother always told him that no matter what, the family was going to be there for him.

That didn’t feel like it was true because it wasn’t there for Andi much, who decided to have a baby out of wedlock and never marry her partner. She dropped off the public radar and lived up in Maine with Ted, and their daughter. Well, Tonks actually moved down to Boston recently because she couldn’t take their little town anymore. No one knew Nymphadora Tonks was a Black, though. She was just fine with that.

The family wasn’t there for Uncle Al, who was a gay man. Out and proud since he was 18. They acted like they were, but inside the family he was rejected. He detached himself, and now lived a happily quiet life running a bookstore in Allston, which Dora was working at now. Sirius frequented the shop behind his parent’s back. Sometimes he sat in the stacks and wondered if he could ever do leave.

“Buck up, Black,” Marlene McKinnon, his personal aide elbowed him as they sat in 103.9’s office. Sirius was there to give an interview with the host of a well known Saturday morning radio show. He was surprised because he didn’t think anyone listened to the radio any longer.

Sirius liked Marlene. She was a straight shooter and didn’t seem to care too much about the Black’s clout. Marlene had even argued with his mother about how they needed to at least mention the existence of Remus. Sirius needed to make sure Marlene didn’t get fired because he knew that eventually she’d rub the Black family the wrong way.

“I am bucked up.”

“Why have you been staring at Remus Lupin’s tweet for five years?”

Not saying anything, he locked his phone and put it in his pocket.

“Are you jealous he gets to say how he really feels?” She cocked her head with a smirk.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“It’s either that or you have some sort of crush on him. I’m hoping it’s the jealous thing because the crush thing is a bit more of a problem.”

The last time Sirius had a crush was back in college. He hadn’t liked anyone enough to feel any sort of way about a person since then. Sure there were some one night stands and a couple of people he thought were okay enough to spend a little more time with, but he hadn’t had any sort of romantic feelings in ages. Not that he had the time and freedom to love who he wanted. Sirius certainly wasn’t going to fall for the scrappy underdog he was running against.

Remus was good looking. He had freckles and these beautiful hazel eyes. His brown hair was curly. Plus, he was as tall as Sirius was, maybe even a few inches taller. Finding Remus good looking did not make a crush though. “I don’t have a crush on the idiot.”

“He’s not an idiot.”

“I know.” Sirius huffed a breath. “He’s really fucking smart.”

Marlene grinned, “It is a crush.”

“Fuck off, it is not. I am jealous, okay?” He dropped his voice so no one would hear him. Sirius didn’t know Remus, he could not have a crush. There was no way he was going to have a crush on the man he was running against either. That’d create another fifteen layers of issues.

“Why can’t we integrate your ideas with the polices?”

“You do realize who you’re working for, right? If you wanted some free thinking, you could have gone and worked with Lupin.” Sirius snickered as someone came out to get them for the interview.

The whole thing went exactly as planned. The hosts asked him only questions that were prepared, and Sirius answered only in ways that he was told to answer. The political machine was running perfectly without any kinks. Sirius made sure to move right along with it — no matter how much it hurt sometimes.

Sirius was thrilled that he was off the rest of the day after the interview. He was meeting James and Lily at their favorite place in the North End for something to eat, then he was going to go visit Tonks and Uncle Al. Sirius hadn’t had much time for anyone outside of campaign things for a while. It seemed his parents were making it that way. They probably knew that Sirius still sought out his family that were long pushed out, and the friends they looked down their nose at.

When Sirius got to Antonio’s, the most cliche but delicious Italian place in the area, James and Lily were already in the back corner at their usual table with a bottle of wine. Lily’s red hair was up in a messy bun, and she looked as if she had just been working out. James was in his usual Saturday casual clothes of jeans and a tee shirt.

James, Sirius, and Lily met at Hogwarts Boarding School when they were 11. They all immediately hit it off and were inseparable ever since. At one point, Lily and James fell in love, which was wonderful in Sirius’ eyes. They were going strong for ten years now, and finally engaged. Both worked as lawyers in different firms. Both were the best people that Sirius ever had the joy to know. He was lucky they chose to be his friend.

“Listened to your radio interview. Great job, you sound perfectly robotic.” James laughed, sliding a glass of wine over to Sirius as he sat down.

“Fuck you.” Sirius shook his head.

“I know you’re my best friend and all, but I like Remus Lupin.” James frowned, fiddling with the edge of the menu. Lily made a face like she agreed but didn’t want to say anything.

“As you should, you have the same stances on nearly everything.”

“You have the same stances on most things too. Well, Sirius the free thinker does, not Sirius the candidate.” Lily waved her hand. “You think public colleges should be free. You want to do something drastic about student loan debt. You want a new, comprehensive immigration plan. You want equality for LGBT people like yourself. You want to make sure a women’s right to choose is safe. You want so much of the same, you’d be the same candidate if you could just run as you.”

“That won’t happen, Lil, you know that.” Sirius shook his head. “If I get my foot in the door then—”

“You’ll never get to vote how you want until you’re out from under their thumb. Look, I get why you’re doing what they say but it sucks.” Lily cut him off.

Sirius wanted to figure out how to make his candidacy his, not his family. He knew that it was a long shot, but he wanted to be himself. Though, him being himself was a lot less likely than Remus winning the election. 35 points was an easy obstacle compared to hundreds of years of a political legacy Sirius had to preserve for his family.

“Remember when you didn’t care what others thought? Boarding school and college were the best times for you because you could be away from them and not worry.” James said before the waitress came over. She greeted them like old friends. Really, they had been sat in her section a million times.

Back when Sirius used to be wild and free, those were the best times in his life. He wished he could take the same passion and joy and put it into his campaign. That seemed to be what Remus was doing. The man was taking what he loved and cared about and putting everything into it. Marlene was right, he was insanely jealous of the other man.

Sirius’ phone buzzed on the table top.

“Don’t you dare you look.” Lily warned, but he didn’t listen.

On the screen was a new tweet from Remus Lupin. Sirius had set his account to get notifications for it:

> **_RJLupin - 1 min ago_ **   
>  _I know my opponent is busy joking about his favorite music on the radio, so I doubt he’s aware of the fact that Riddle is toying with the idea to go to war with Iran. **@SiriusBlack** what are your feelings on possible air strikes?_

“Ballsy.” James said, looking over at Sirius’ phone. “I like him.”


	3. Chapter 3

> _Black - 48%_   
>  _Lupin - 26%_   
>  _Undecided - 26%_

“Look at my boy with his fancy office,” Remus’ mom’s voice said cheerily as she walked through the door. She was still wearing her scrubs, and looked exhausted from her overnight shift at Children’s. “Do you have time to get lunch with your little old mother? I know I’m not as important as all this.”

Remus laughed and rolled his eyes as he stood up from his chair. This office was located in Chelsea in a small office that had been abandoned for years. They had to do some heavy cleaning in order even to start working in it. But now they had it all nice and clean. It was functioning as a real campaign office. People were even coming in and volunteering to help out with the campaign. It was all a bit surreal.

On top of that, Remus had made a little dent in Sirius’ lead. Instead of a 35 point gap, it was 22 now. There was still a mountain to climb, but Remus felt that it was doable. Sirius was still not engaging in any sort of conversation with him or even really about him. It was infuriating. How could you ignore the fact that someone was running against you? Remus sent numerous tweets out trying to get Sirius’ attention. He knew that if they went toe to toe in a debate, Remus would win. Sirius couldn’t recycle the same lines over and over again.

“Hi mom,” He kissed her on the cheek when they met in the middle of the room. “I have plenty of time for lunch and I will always have endless time for you.”

“Good, anyone else?” She looked at the staff and volunteers behind him.

“Ha, no.” Remus shook his head because he wanted some alone time with someone who wasn’t going to talk about his campaign the whole entire time. He knew he could get his mother off topic when he wanted to. If anyone came with them the whole thing would turn into a strategy meeting.

“Aw, man, Remus, could you bring back some fries at least?” Pete asked.

“Yeah, fine.”

Walking to the Greek place Remus liked down the street, his mom chatted about how his cousin was having another baby. Remus knew she was insinuating about when Remus was going to settle down and have a family. It was as if she couldn’t help herself. Remus knew she wanted him to be happy and successful, but deep down she really wanted some grandbabies.

“Well, congratulations to her. I’m busy running a campaign for public office.” Remus laughed, opening the door to the restaurant.

They placed their order at the counter then took a seat before his mother said anything in return. He knew his mother was turning over everything in her head.

“I’m so proud of you.” She said once they sat down.

“I know mom.” There were only a few times in his life his mother wasn’t completely proud of him. Those were stupid moments when he truly fucked up and did something stupid. Like when his high school girlfriend was sure she was pregnant, and he told his mom. In the end she wasn’t, but Hope wasn’t happy. She didn’t want him to end up a teen parent, like she was when Remus came into the world.

“I’m also scared for you. The Blacks could tear you apart, god knows what they would make up about you.”

“I’m not important enough for them to care about at the time.” Remus reminded her.

“Yes, but your numbers are improving steadily. If you keep that up, they’re going to have to acknowledge you. I just worry what’s going to happen when they do.”

“You do realize I want them to acknowledge me, right? That’s the whole point of this.”

“I understand that, yes, I’m just nervous. You’re still my little boy.” Hope patted Remus’ hand.

Remus’ mother was born in Boston to her parents, who had both just immigrated to the country only a few years before she was born. Remus’ grandparents happened to meet one day at the store they were both working at and fell in love. It was a romance for the ages, Remus always thought. It took them both coming to a brand new country to find one another. Sadly, his mother and his father didn’t have the same type of romance.

Lyall and Hope fell head over heels in love during high school. Hope ended up pregnant at 17, and Lyall felt like he had to marry her. They managed four years of marriage while Hope worked to finish school so she could become a nurse. Remus didn’t remember a thing about the time his father was in his life. From what his mother said, she was glad that he couldn’t. The last Remus knew, Lyall was in jail for possession of a controlled substance.

Hope worked her ass off to make sure that Remus could live the life that she never was able to. Remus worked his ass off to show that he deserved it. He felt like what he was doing now, was a culmination in both of their efforts to live that life.

“Don’t be too nervous, mom, it’s going to be okay.” He smiled. “We’ve handled far worse in our lives, right?”

“Let’s forget about them. How’s your speech coming for the Brand New Congress Summit?” Hope asked Remus with a big grin. “You’re leaving tomorrow.”

Brand New Congress was a two day summit put on by the Brand New Congress organization. The organization was tied to Justice Democrats, which was helping Remus organize on the ground and get him out there. The summit would include speeches from others who were running for Congress for the first time, as well as some workshops to help him along in the process.

Remus had been working on his speech for a few days. He hadn’t given a big declaring speech yet of who he was. Most of his talking came in smaller groups or one on one. Yes, he’d written posts for his Facebook page, and helped Frank with writing his platform. This was going to be his declaration of who he was, where he came from, and what he stood for out loud for everyone to hear. For some reason it was slightly terrifying.

“Want to read the speech?” Remus opened the document on his phone that he had been agonizing over for days.

“I’m sure it’s brilliant.” She smiled, taking the phone from Remus.

As their food was brought over, his mom’s face went through a variety of emotions. He wanted to make a ‘no face journey’s’ joke but she’d never seen the show. Remus waited as she looked up from the phone for a reaction then she started to cry. No words, just tears and a smile.

“Mom!” He laughed. “Really?”

“It’s perfect Remus, it’s you.” She sniffled, reaching for a napkin to wipe her eyes. “You’re enough.”

“I know, you’ve always told me that I am.”

There were many times in Remus’ life where he didn’t feel like enough. There was plenty of self doubt in the past, but he had grown to love himself. If he didn’t believe in himself then he wouldn’t have been taking something so important on. He knew that he could do it. His support system was going to be there in the moments where he doubted himself too.

***  
  
 **Transcript of Remus Lupin’s**  
 **Brand New Congress Speech**  
 **05/18/2020**

_Hello, I’m Remus Lupin and I’m running for U.S. Representative for Massachusetts’ 7th District. When I got the overview of what we needed in our speech I blanked out for a few minutes. Describe who you are and why you’re passionate about running in a speech between two and five minutes. I know who I am and how I feel but sometimes it’s hard to get it down to perfect sound bites._

_In college, I got told by a professor I write too much. Not that what I was writing was meaningless, but I needed to say it fewer words. It was mind boggling because the information I was using was important for me to state so in order to support my topic. Let’s see if I’m able to meet the challenge today. If I do, I’m sure I’ll make my former professor proud._

_I grew up in Roxbury, not the shiniest part of the Greater Boston area but I loved my neighborhood. My family lived on the same block. There was a playground. I could run around without a care in the world, or so I thought. As I grew up I saw the gaping cracks that were there. I saw the drugs and the violence that my mother tried to protect me from. I learned that not everyone loved my city like I did. I saw my mother struggle to be a single parent, working hard to support us. I felt racism and homophobia for being who I was._

_Another thing I learned, as I explored who I was and what the world around me was like, was that I may not enough in some people’s eyes. I am not white enough or rich enough. For other’s I was not Mexican enough. Sometimes I was not poor enough. Then I told the world I was bi and suddenly I was not straight enough or gay enough. People are arguing now that I do not have enough experience when the person I’m running with is the same age as me with the same experience in public office. The biggest difference between us is that that I don’t have a political empire behind me._

_What I am enough of is passionate and smart — both street and book smart. I understand that what I’m trying to do is not easy. I’m running against a political machine, trying to elect their brightest son. I want to wade into Congress with my ideals and passions to fix what’s broken. I understand the hill I’m climbing up is steep, but I am equipped with enough fortitude and smarts to know that I am able to take on these challenges and succeed._

_We, the people of this wonderful country, need to get it together. There are children dying in concentration camps on our borders. There are women being locked up because they were shot and their baby died. People dying because they don’t have proper access to healthcare. Students can’t access their education, and when they do they’re saddled with enormous amounts of debt. There’s an opioid epidemic tearing apart this country. The criminal justice system is in pieces. Our climate is in it’s death throes._

_I could go on and on about what is wrong, but I want to start from here on out only talking about how we can fix these things. Complaining isn’t helping, obviously._

_I’m Remus Lupin. A bisexual, biracial, bilingual son of a single working mother from Roxbury, Massachusetts, and I’m running for office because I’m sick of talking. It’s time to start fixing things._

***

Sirius watched Remus’ speech at the Brand New Congress Summit and felt terrible. The man was there for all the right reasons, and Sirius wasn’t sure he even wanted to be in the fight. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about all the issues and more that Remus had talked about, but he couldn’t say things loud and proud like Remus did.

“Why are you sitting in the back corner of Uncle Al’s bookstore? Don’t you have stuff to do? You’re in the middle of a campaign.”

“I’m watching Remus Lupin’s speech at this summit he went to. I’m in trouble.” Sirius sighed, looking up at Tonks from the corner he had tucked himself into. This week her hair was a pastel purple. Sirius thought it suited her, and had suggested earlier that she continue with the color longer than her usual amount of time.

It was midday on a Tuesday, and Sirius was afforded the time to hide out. His mother was with his father at an appointment, and he had no more meetings or events to deal with that day. It was a rare down moment in the middle of the week. When that happened he went to his uncle’s shop because it was usually fairly quiet in the middle of a weekday.

“Yeah, he’s smart, articulate, good looking, and progressive. He’s really hitting all the marks at this point in time. I’m surprised that the point gap is hovering around 20 right now.”

“Remus is going to go viral with this and take me down.” Sirius said as Tonks sat next to him.

“You say that as if it’s a bad thing.” Tonks nudged him with her elbow. “You really want this?”

Sirius sighed and put his phone down. All he wanted was to be himself, but that was not an option any longer. He was nearing 30 and lost the ability to be himself a while back. How was he ever going to pull himself out of this whole web his family had spun? “To some extent.”

“To some extent. Sirius, you can’t keep at it this way.”

“If I don’t, then what’s going to happen to me?” Sirius asked her.

“Your parents would probably kick you out of the family in some way. They’ll try to get Regulus to run and attempt to fix his image — even though nothing should be wrong with his image. He had substance abuse issues, so what?”

“They just want to pretend everything is perfect all the time. They don’t want to acknowledge he was doing coke all the time.”

“They also don’t want it known he likes to fuck guys.”

Sirius snorted a laugh because Sirius would have the same “issue” if it ever came out. Not that it should have been an issue because he was supposedly in a party that supported him being out. It was just his parent’s own prejudices that held him back. They were more conservative than they let on.

“How have you kept it quiet from them for so long that you like guys too?” Tonks asked him because she couldn’t wrap her head around the fact. Sirius couldn’t wrap his own head around it most days either.

“I don’t know. Maybe they don’t want to see it. It also helps that I’ve had a few beards in my time.” Sirius shook his head, thinking of all the lying he had done his whole life. At this rate, it was going to continue for some time.

“So, you get elected and you go to Washington, and you carry out the Black ways. What happens if you meet someone?”

“If he meets someone that he loves, he better love them and not have to worry about hiding it.” Uncle Al came through the stacks to find his nephew and great-niece. He still carried himself as a Black, but he had a softer look to him than anyone else that was in the family.

“Hopefully.” Sirius smiled, a bit painfully. It hurt because he knew that it wouldn’t be that easy if he ever did meet someone. He saw people, politicians and athletes and people in Hollywood and beyond, out without it ruining their reputation. Yet, his parents seemed to be stuck in this old way of thinking.

“You know if you ever want to leave, we’re here.” Al said gesturing between he and Tonks. “Andi and Ted too, and James and Lily will always be behind you.”

“I know that you’re here.” Sirius nodded, but that didn’t make it any easier.

One day, Sirius would figure out why he stayed for so fucking long. Manipulation was probably the root of it, and he most likely needed some major therapy, but he didn’t want to explore that. Sirius felt horrified when he thought about leaving the family. He should have felt freed.

Later that night, he was stretched out in his bed staring at the ceiling. He wanted to go out, but since announcing he was running, Sirius wasn’t sure if he could fly under the radar at a gay bar any longer. The fear of being caught out and causing a scandal, made his stomach turn. Sirius didn’t want to have to deal with his mother.

When his phone buzzed where it was resting on his stomach, Sirius was shocked to see the message from Regulus. It was the last thing he thought he was going to get that night.

 **R:**  
We’re doing Pride on the 8th  
Campaign event  
Not just you and me

 **S:**  
You’re kidding

 **R:**  
NOPE!  
Team wants you to press in  
Show we’re supportive  
I bet Remus is going to bring up the tape

 **S:**  
The tape?  
The one where mother is saying  
she would rather die than have a  
gay son?

 **R:**  
What would happen if we both came out?

 **S:**  
She’d drop dead, clearly  
Problems solved

 **R:**  
You really don’t want this, huh?

 **S:**  
Do you?

The ‘…’ popped up three time then there was no response. Sirius knew that Regulus struggled in the same ways that he did, but they didn’t talk about it much. If they spoke about it, then it was real. That’s what it felt like at least. The two of them were there for one another and they were going to continue to suffer through in silence.

Sirius sighed swiped to Twitter and typed in Remus’ name. It was a new obsession for him. Every single moment of every day, Sirius was trying to find out what the other man was doing or saying. The fact that Sirius wasn’t allowed to talk about Remus, made Sirius want to talk about Remus. He mattered because he was smart and capable. The man was going to give them a race whether his family liked it or not.

> **_SoxGal08 - 8 mins ago_ **   
>  _**@RJLupin** is a real one! Did you see his speech they posted? So good. **#VoteLupin**_
> 
> **_TheYoungTurks - 10 mins ago_ **   
>  _**@RJLupin** is another in a wave of progressive Democrats taking on the system. Find out more about him and his platform below_
> 
> **_SuffolkDSA - 1 hr ago_ **   
>  _**@RJLupin** is the candidate that is going to stand up for the people. We look forward to supporting him through this campaign._
> 
> **_YouKnowWhoSucks - 1 hr ago_ **   
>  _At least both **@RJLupin** and **@SiriusBlack** are good to look at. Lupin seems smarter tho. **#Vance2020 #Vote**_

Sirius groaned, clicking to Remus’ profile to look at his recent tweets again. He had already read all of Remus’ tweets, but he just wanted to look one more time. Being interested in what your opponent was saying was probably a good thing, and not a strange thing.

> **_RJLupin - 5 hrs ago_ **   
>  _Spoke at the Brand New Congress Summit. It felt good to talk about who I am, and why I’m here. Thank you to my supporters. To those who are interested in finding out more about my platform, follow the link!_

When he woke up the next morning, Sirius was sure that the polling numbers were going to start changing. Remus’ speech was going to go viral and get people’s attention. Sirius needed to make some kind of statement himself if he wanted to make any type of impact on campaign. He just wasn’t really sure if he wanted to make the impact…


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sirius and Remus finally meet at Pride. It's not a pleasant as one would hope.

> _Black - 50%_   
>  _Lupin - 35%_   
>  _Undecided - 15%_

Following the Brand New Congress Summit, Remus was surprised with how his campaign went viral. He didn’t think his speech was the best in the world, but it struck a chord with some people it seemed. There was a 15 point difference between him and Sirius now, with Remus seeming to pick up more of the undecided voters as time went on.

Of course the numbers were just projections. They were projecting McGonagall to win right up until the bitter end. Remus remembered refreshing 538 and WaPo’s tracker a million times in disbelief in 2016. Riddle was a vile person, and he couldn’t believe that his country would reject a woman so hard because this man was playing on the fear people felt. Fear that blossomed in racism, sexism, homophobia, nationalism, and all the other gross things that people didn’t want to admit to.

Riddle winning demolished Remus’ hope. For a while, he didn’t even look at politics. He gave money to charities and organizations that he knew needed it. He kept up to date on the important things, but he couldn’t get into the small stuff. It was exhausting. Then, he got this second wind. Remus realized that he had to dive in because if he sat back, then things were never going to change.

“I can’t carry the paddle and wear the leather?” Remus joked with Hestia as they looked at Remus’ options for clothes. He wanted the bi color pallet to represent his own sexuality. No matter if he was running or not, Remus would have been at the parade anyway.

“No, the district will kink shame you. Keep it in the bedroom like all those other dirty politicians.” She snorted. “I think you should wear the navy trousers and the pink shirt. No tie or jacket, roll up the sleeves. I got a bi flag pin you can put on your shirt next to your American flag because god forbid the American flag is not on your body.”

“Okay, that works.” Remus sighed sat down on the edge of his bed. They had a few minutes before he had to start getting ready. His mind kept turning over the fact that Sirius Black was going to be at the parade. “Can you believe that Sirius is going?”

“Of course he’s going to be there, Remus, he’s a Democrat who’s policies supposedly align with some type of care and concern for the community.”

“But how can everyone ignore what his mother said?” Remus complained to Hestia. “She spoke about how she did not want either of her sons to be gay. She’d rather die! How is that acceptable in our party?”

“I don’t know, maybe we should bring it up?” Hestia shrugged.

“What if Sirius is gay? That’d be fucking amazing for his mother.”

“Why, so you have a chance at dicking him down? You sure do talk about him a lot.” Hestia did a weird thing with her eyebrows like she was trying to be suggestive.

Remus laughed and gave her a shove. “No, just some karmic payback. Also, I do not talk about him a lot. He’s my opponent in the race.”

“Both Sirius and Regulus being gay would be the best payback, I’d say. She doesn’t seem like the most nurturing mother that there is in this world.”

“Unlike Hope, she is not going to be out there walking in the parade with me.” Remus boasted a little. His mother was always the most supportive person in his life. When Remus came out to her at 14, she became more informed than Remus was for a while. He was an incredibly lucky guy.

“Your mother is my queen, and I tell her that every time I see her.”

“She thinks that she’s your queen because she’s the perfect example of a working class single parent for our campaign.”

“Oh! No! Oh my god, I need to make sure she doesn’t think that. I genuinely love your mother.”

Remus laughed loudly. He couldn’t help poking at that with Hestia. His mother said something about it once, but knew that Hestia didn’t see her as a tool in the campaign. If she really did, Remus wouldn’t want her around. “I’m only joking. She doesn’t think that.”

Hestia shook her head. “I hate you, Lupin.”

“You love me. If you hated me, you’d be working for the Black campaign.”

“That would be the day. Walburga would take one look at me and turn me away. Then if she found out I was trans, oh, honey, it’d be the end of things.” Hestia rolled her eyes. “She probably hates the whole lot of us in this camp. Though, Alice and Frank appear to be hetro, they’re just as queer as you and me.”

“We are Walburga Black’s worst nightmare, in all honesty.”

“And that’s why we’re going to beat the Black political machine. Come on, why don’t you go flirt with Sirius a little? It will drive her a little crazy.”

> **RJLupin - 30 mins ago**   
>  _The first Pride was a riot. The LGBTQ community is still fighting today. Celebrate how far we’ve come, but don’t forget the past and continue to fight for the future._

Remus had attended Boston Pride since he was 16. This was the first time that he was going to be marching in it. Not only was he marching because he was queer and there and wanted to yell about it, but he was also trying to get some more votes. It was another addition on to the amazing things he was doing at the moment. Not even a year ago did he think he’d be here.

After the parade, Remus went to his booth to shake some more hands. At one point he broke away to go get a taco from his favorite food truck. Standing in line, he was surprised to see Sirius and his brother walking his way. They didn’t see him at first but when they did, Sirius’ eyes widened.

“Sirius Black.” Remus couldn’t help himself when his name fell out of his mouth. He knew that the people behind him knew he was running for office because they had been chatting a minute before. Remus felt like he wouldn’t have been himself if he let Sirius walk by.

“Oh, ah, Remus Lupin. Nice to finally meet you.” Sirius said when he got closer. He shook Remus hand firmly when he was in reach.

If there was one thing Sirius was, it was good looking. His black hair was styled perfectly, his blue eyes were bright, and his face looked like it was selected from some preset Northeastern WASP Prep good looks catalogue. It was sickening how perfect the man looked. Underneath it all, there was no way that the perfectness could go all the way through.

“So, you know I exist. I was wondering if you got my tweets.” Remus laughed, trying to make light of the situation.

“No, I know you exist.” Sirius shook his head with a slight smile.

“Why are you at Pride when your mother said how she’d disown you or prefer to die if you were queer?”

Sirius looked completely gobsmacked. Clearly, no one had ever confronted him to his face like this outright. His brother was about to open his mouth but Sirius laughed. “What?”

“There’s a video where your mother said she’d disown you both if you were gay or she would rather drop dead. It was this whole tirade. It was swept under the rug, but I think people in the community remember it. If they don’t, they should.”

“My mother — she… it wasn’t a good day.” Sirius stumbled over his words. “I consider myself an ally to the community.”

“Oh, you consider yourself a good ally. What have you done to earn this ally badge?” Remus questioned. “I hate to push back if you’re a real ally, but I’m having a hard to letting go what your mother said then no one ever speaking about it again.”

“I think that’s enough.” His brother finally spoke up.

“How about a debate? I won’t even ask about your mother’s words there. I’ll only talk policy, I swear.” Remus said confidently. “I know I’m quite a bit behind you in the polls, but I think it’s important for the people to hear where we stand on policies.”

“I’ll talk to my team about it.” Sirius said with some strength in his voice.

Remus wondered what the other man was feeling and thinking at that moment. “Good, I’m glad. I’d love to have a proper conversation about the topics that should be covered. I hope to talk to you again soon.” Remus stuck out his hand.

Sirius looked at the offered hand for a second in hesitation then shook it before the Black brothers took off without another word.

Without even getting his damn taco, Remus left the line and went back to find someone from his team. He needed to talk about what the hell just happened. The first people he saw were Dorcas and Fleur, who were handing out stickers on the sidewalk. He pulled them off to the side with a wave. “I think I just made something happen. I’m not sure if it’s good or bad yet.”

They both looked at him with a mix of interest and concern. “Remus Lupin, what did you do?” Fleur asked.

“I confronted Sirius about what his mother said. Then I asked him for a debate.”

“What?” Dorcas clenched the stack of stickers in her hands, her knuckles going white. “What’d he say.”

“Bullshit answer that he’d talk to his team. He also said his mother was having a bad day that day.” Remus let out a sharp laugh.

“Did anyone get it on their phone?” Fleur questioned, leaning closer to Remus. “If they recorded it, and you look good, this is going to do wonders for the campaign. Please tell me when you’re going to be confronting your opponents next time so I can get it on video.”

“I wasn’t even thinking. It was like I blacked out for a moment.” Remus said. “I have to tell Hestia now, or she’s going to murder me if she somehow finds out first otherwise.”

***

> **TimG18 - 1 hr ago**   
>  _Check out **@RJLupin’s** takedown of **@SiriusBlack** at **#BostonPride** in the video. Follow the link to see Mama Black’s meltdown Lupin was talking about!_
> 
> **FranklinDHoesevelt - 40 mins ago**   
>  _Shit! Walburga Black’s a homophobic bitch! I can’t believe she’d say that about her own sons! What is she saying about other people’s kids?_
> 
> **BostonGlobe - 30 mins ago**   
>  _Walburga Black’s old rant is coming back to haunt her son’s campaign for Congress. Should it matter? Take the poll._

“Why would you walk over to him?” Walburga Black was on a tear. She had already broken an old vase that had been on their mantle for ages. “Now he’s brought this all up again! They’re going to run this into the ground! Do you know how many media outlets have called us? Do you understand what kind of damage control and I am going to have to do for this?”

Sirius bit his cheek so hard that he had a coppery taste in his mouth. From many years of experience, Sirius knew that he wasn’t going to get his mother off a rampage. It was better to sit there and take it. Regulus and Sirius had seen this their whole lives. There was never physical abuse, but Sirius knew how she was emotionally abusive.

“You both are so disappointing. We brought you up correctly, yet you continue to go against us. This is going to be hurtful for your father.”

As if his father 1. Cared 2. Knew what was going on 3. Ever even loved Sirius. Orion was just as mean and cold as Walburga, but he was also extremely distant. The only memories Sirius had of his father were mostly photo-ops. There were a few fuzzy times down on the Black compound on The Vineyard where he had some good father/son times. Those were very fleeting memories though.

“Tomorrow we’ll begin to take him down.”

“He wants a debate.” Regulus said. “I think we should give him one.”

Walburga didn’t say a thing, she just walked out of the sitting room, her heels clicking down the marble hallway. Sirius and Regulus didn’t say anything to one another. They left their parent’s mansion, getting into their car where Marlene was waiting. She was staring at her phone with intense concentration.

“Hestia, Remus Lupin’s campaign manager, she set us a formal email asking for a debate. Everyone knows that’s the best way to do this, right? We can’t let I drag your family through the mud.”

“It’s not through the mud if it’s true, is it?” Sirius sat back in his seat. “It’s on tape and she said those things. Our mother is homophobic and if both Reggie and I came out she’d drop dead.”

Marlene bit her lip. “Okay, ah, I don’t know what to do with this yet.”

“It’s a lot, we know. We live it.” Regulus patted her leg. “As Lupin calls it, our Political Machine will figure this all out. I’m not worried.”

Of course Regulus wasn’t worried. He could be just as blind as the rest of the family at times. It drove Sirius crazy because his brother could also be just like him in ways. They were both the black sheep, but Regulus tried to pretend he wasn’t — even when he was fucking Crouch behind everyone’s back.

“I’m a little worried!” Marlene said in a panic. “This is big. This is sink the campaign type big. The video of your mom, that’s from the early 2000s. People weren’t as plugged in as they are now back then. This is going to go viral. Remus’ numbers are already on the upswing, this is going to be a killer to you.”

Sirius rubbed his forehead. He was getting a headache.

“He’s an asshole.”

“He’s fucking smart.” Sirius said then leaned forward to talk to his driver. “Can you drop me at James and Lilly’s please?”

“Sure thing.”

“Thank you.” Sirus sat back again. He didn’t want to go home, and there was no way that he could go out at the moment either. All he wanted was to continue to celebrate Pride, but he had to hide himself as he always had. Now his mother was being put back in the spotlight for her comments, Sirius had no chance of getting near any gay friendly spot. It wasn’t him that made the comments, but it was his family that he was permanently tied to.

> **RJLupin - 15 mins ago**   
>  _I would love to debate **@SiriusBlack**. The voters should be able to get all the information and facts before they made a decision._
> 
> **RJLupin - 10 mins ago**   
>  _Also, looks like it’s going to be a battle with the delegates for Vance and Slughorn. Rooting for a Vane/Fenwick ticket. Vance is the best progressive candidate in the race. She’s also strong enough to take on Riddle in the General._

When they got to the Potter’s apartment building, Sirius left Marlene and Regulus to ride the rest of the way to wherever either of them were going. James and Lily were always there to make Sirius feel better. They talked him off ledges, made him laugh, and set him straight when he needed to be set straight. Their home, and James’ parent’s homes, were an escape for him.

“I knew you’d be here even before you texted.” Lily said after she opened the door to let Sirius inside.

“I can’t believe this is coming back.” Sirius hugged her before going into the apartment.

“It was only a matter of time, sadly.” Lily bit her lip as they walked into the living room where James was watching The West Wing for probably the millionth time. They used to binge watch it all the time in college then after when Sirius got the box set on DVD. Now they just streamed it on Netflix when they were bored.

“This is shitty, Sirius.”

“It was inevitable.” He kicked his shoes off then curled up on the sofa. “I’m sure there’s some plan that I don’t know about. I don’t really know about much. I’m just given the lines to say and what to focus on.”

“You walked up to him, didn’t you?” James asked. “Someone tweeted that Remus was in line and called you over.”

“Yes.” Sirius closed his eyes, leaning his head on James’ shoulder.

When Remus called him at first, Sirius’ gut was to ignore him. Well, not his gut but what his campaign would expect him to do. Sirius couldn’t ignore him because Remus was there, and ignoring him was probably even a worse thing to do. Not only was Remus making an impact, he was doing what was good and following his passions and his moral compass. Remus wanted to fix things and seemed to understand the world around him wasn’t going to make that easy.

“It’s really out of character for you to just go with what your family is saying.”

“James…” Lily’s tone sounded like a warning.

“He’s right, Lily. There was a time where I was my own person.” Sirius reminded her. “I’m not sure who me is anymore.”

“Drop out then, Sirius. If this isn’t what you want it’s not good for you or the people of the district.”

“But at the same time I want to change things.” Sirius said. There was plenty he wanted to change. Pretty much all of it, was exactly what Remus was saying. There was nothing he disagreed with Remus on.

“You and Remus have the same platforms, if you got to put your own platform out there that is.” James put an arm around him.

“You need to figure out what you’re going to do before it gets too late into this thing, Sirius.” Lily let out a long sigh. “It’s unfair for everyone involved if you go on with it and aren’t happy.”

Sirius knew that, but he was so scared to see what would happen if he didn’t just go with what he was being told. The times when he used to be confident and carefree were the best times in Sirius’ life. Now he felt caught in the net of the Black family legacy.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a debate and then, well, there's running of various sorts.

> _Black - 45%_   
>  _Lupin - 44%_   
>  _Undecided - 11%_

“Dear fucking god.” Remus nearly choked on his coffee when he saw the newest polling numbers with a margin of error separating him and Sirius. His numbers had been on a steady uptick since his confrontation with Sirius at the Pride parade last month. It was amazing to watch and the feeling Remus had on it was completely indescribable. It was as if he was winning a battle with Goliath — not to be over dramatic or anything.

There were people who defended Sirius, saying that it wasn’t his fault that his mother said those things. No, it wasn’t Sirius’ fault but the silence from the man’s campaign outside of the brisk apology from Walburga spoke volumes to Remus. To be a true ally for the LGBT community, Remus couldn’t understand how Sirius could not say a word about his mother’s tirade.

“Yes, fucking yes! Let’s go!” Hestia fist pumped as Dorcas hugged him tight as they looked over the latest polling numbers. The whole office was yelling and celebrating as they took a break from making phone calls and organizing.

That was days ago, now they were on the way to the debate. Yes, the Black camp finally agreed to the debate. With the pressure from people in the district and outside, it was inevitable. The only thing was, they couldn’t talk about Sirius’ mother’s comments. Remus was fine with that, he was good at making passive aggressive comments when needed. Remus hoped they have one or two questions on the LGBT community because it needed to be addressed. Riddle was trying to take rights away left and right, not just from the LGBT community, but from immigrants, women, the working class, and so on and so forth.

During the drive to the community theater they were having the debate at, Remus wanted to puke. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been so nervous about anything. “I know who I am and why I’m here.” He mumbled to himself as some sort of mantra.

Dorcas squeezed his hand. “You’re smart and capable. You’re here for the right reasons.” She said then kissed him on the cheek.

“Be yourself Remus, and you’ll get it done. You prepared for everything, there’s nothing they can throw at you that you’re not ready for.” Hestia encouraged as their car came to a stop in front of the theater.

“I can do this. I can kick some major ass.”

“You will kick some major ass!” Pete let out a whoop.

They went into the theater and got ready to go on. Remus was trying his best to talk himself down from the anxiety attack that was building in his chest, squeezing at his heart and muddling his thoughts. All he wanted was a cigarette. He hadn’t smoked in ages, but he just wanted one now.

With about fifteen minutes to spare until the debate, he snuck out back of the venue after stealing a cigarette and a lighter from Hestia’s bag. Thankfully everyone was busy or on their way to their seats to notice Remus taking his leave. Much his surprise, he found Sirius Black in the alleyway doing the same thing. Maybe he wasn’t a complete robot.

“Ah, shit, sorry.” Remus said, cigarette dangling from his lips unlit.

Sirius barked a laugh, smoke curling from his lips. It was different than his usual fake campaign laughs. The laugh was much better than those clipped laughs. “Don’t worry about it.”

Remus nodded then lit his cigarette. They stood there silently for what felt like an eternity. Neither of them made a move or spoke. Remus had a million things he wanted to say to the other man. There were so many questions that he had.

“You use your Twitter account in a smart way.” Sirius finally broke the silence. “Much better than most politicians. It’s really good.”

“Ah, thanks.”

“I’m not allowed to tweet anything without someone checking it.” Sirius shook his head.

That must have been suffocating, Remus thought to himself. Sirius probably couldn’t make any move unless it was okayed by his team. That wasn’t how things worked on the Lupin campaign. They were all working together to get Remus elected. The Blacks were a political empire. They were doing things for the same way for forever. Maybe Sirius wasn’t like that at all.

“They afraid you’re going to go off script?”

“Probably constantly. I mean, I went over to you at Pride, didn’t I?” Sirius snickered, dropping his cigarette on to the ground. “That was majorly off script. Look where it got the campaign.”

“You should be yourself more.” Remus suggested because he was genuinely curious about what Sirius Black was really like.

“You just want me to get in trouble more, I’m sure.” Sirius laughed, his hand reaching for the door. “You know, you’re running a great campaign. I’m not just saying that either because I’m standing here with you. You’re a good politician. I mean, I know you don’t want to be like — well, like me and you’re doing a good job of it.”

“Um, thanks? Are you being nice to try to get me to let my guard down for the debate because it won’t work.” Remus said mostly in a joking way.

“No, I’m being honest. I know you’re probably shocked because I don’t do that much in the public eye.” Sirius bit his lip. “No matter what happens Remus, keep fighting for what’s right, okay? The world deserves more people like you. The only way things will change is if people with the courage you have are out there trying to change it all.”

“Are you dragging yourself right now?” Remus furrowed his brow.

“I think I’m trying to drag my family without saying it.” Sirius tilted his head to the side then gave a nod before going back into the building.

Remus wasn’t sure what to say to Sirius. He wanted to ask him how he felt about everything. Was he really being honest with him at that moment? That was a lot of cards to show if he was real. Remus was stuck standing in the alleyway, a cigarette between his fingers lost in thought for a few minutes. He wasn’t sure what to think.

Who was the real Sirius Black? Remus always knew that the other man’s image was completely curated. The man was the heir to a political dynasty that stretched back generations. Sirius was about to inherit the throne, and before Remus spoke up they were trying to do it on stale diatribes and name recognition alone. In Remus’ opinion, they needed to let Sirius’ personality shine a bit more if they wanted to win.

After finishing his cigarette, Remus went back inside and was whisked on to the stage nearly right away. He let anything he was thinking about Sirius melt away as he stepped out behind his podium. In the lights on the stage, Remus let himself lead first with his policies, not just his emotions. He didn’t bring up Sirius’ mother’s tirade once. The messages he was giving were loud and clear, and hopefully they were picked up by everyone who was on the fence about him.

By the end of the night, it was apparent Remus “won” the debate just by the reactions from the crowd. Also, the other man seemed to not be in it. Sirius never really sounded sure in any of his own answers. It was clear that the man’s heart wasn’t in it, even if his brain may have been telling him what to say. Remus was sure the other man had some great ideas, but they were buried deep inside of him.

“Congratulations,” Sirius said quietly as they shook hands after the debate. “You’re going to be a great representative of this state. You’ll do us proud.”

“You haven’t lost yet.”

“Were you at the same debate as me, because I’m pretty sure that you just crushed me like a bug.” Sirius spoke quietly as they walked off the stage.

“Sirius, I — “ He stopped himself unsure of what to say. What he did want was to talk to Sirius properly. He wanted to get to know him better. “If you need to have a conversation I go running on the community path in Somerville at 7 am nearly every weekday starting at the Western Union.”

Sirius looked at him in surprise, just as he was about to open his mouth, his personal aid came over. She looked like she was going to pull her hair out. By the tousled looks of her blonde curls, she may have. “You need to get to the office. We’re having a debrief.”

“Right,” Sirius took a deep breath as if he was about to go to his own death. “Good job, Lupin.”

“Yeah, you too.” Remus said before Sirius was whisked away.

The moment he turned around, Remus was attacked his hugs from his friends, family, and staff. A few aunts and uncles and cousins came out for the debate as well. Everyone was showering him with praise and excitement. Remus was thrilled too but his mind wandered to Sirius, and how he was probably getting an earful on the way home.

“It was as if he didn’t even try.” Hestia said as the group began to walk to their cars. They decided to go to Peter’s family bar to celebrate the win. Remus wouldn’t have been surprised is Sirius tanked it on purpose from their brief talk. “You’re going to overtake him in the polls officially now.

Remus knew that it was true because there was no way that Sirius was going to survive in the lead after that showing. It all felt so much like self sabotage, especially with the conversation he had with Sirius before the debate. There was no way the man had put any effort into it. He saw him be charismatic on stage during other events. There was nothing there today. Remus almost felt guilty for wiping the man across the stage.

Okay, not really guilty because Remus was doing what he wanted to do. He was hopefully going to overtake Sirius in the polls, and eventually take the win in the primary and then in the general election. Then hopefully, in the end, he would see through with his change into Congress.

***

> **NikkiFrenz — 30 mins ago**   
>  _Damn. **@SiriusBlack** can’t even answer a simple policy question about immigration? Do you or do you not agree with Riddle?_
> 
> **IndependentMe — 30 minutes ago**   
>  _**@SiriusBlack** is an unmitigated disaster. Has anyone been paying attention to **@GilderoyLockhart** on the Republican side? He disagrees with Riddle. Seems like a decent centrist._
> 
> **YoungSocialistDemsMA — 40 mins ago**   
>  _**@SiriusBlack’s** answers reek of establishment. Vote **@RJLupin** to see some actual change_
> 
> **GreggMcGee — 45 mins ago**   
>  _**@RJLupin’s** answers on The Green New Deal needing to be passed is exactly what I wanted to hear. What the recycled line that **@SiriusBlack** was saying. Get some new material._
> 
> **BostonGlobe — 1 hr ago**   
>  _Many are saying that The Black Family legacy is now tarnished. Are they supporters of Riddle?_   
>    
> 

After the debate, Sirius was sat down and made to watch the disaster all over. He was picked apart and told he wasn’t good enough. They told him all the things he did wrong. All the things they need to do to go back and fix it all. It was like a round of torture. There was nothing decent that they could take from the debate. Honestly, he knew that he could do better. Sirius didn’t even mean to do it. It just happened.

At the end of it all, Sirius cried in the car on the way to James and Lily. He felt silly for crying, mainly because he wasn’t sure why he was crying. It could have been the fact that he didn’t want to continue on with the race or that he let everyone down or that he had no clue what he wanted to do with himself. It was all so complicated that he wished he could disappear, and then it would all fix itself.

James stayed up with him watching Parks and Rec all night because he couldn’t fall asleep. It was their lighter version of West Wing. They didn’t do anything Saturday or Sunday. The three just stayed hunkered down in the apartment watching movies and eating all the junk food. Sirius ignored all texts and calls from everyone, even Regulus and Marlene. He didn’t want anything to do with the campaign for those days. All he wanted was to have everything figured out, but that was not going to happen overnight or even in a weekend.

Sadly, by Monday, he still had no idea what he wanted to do with himself. Sirius knew he had to trudge on with the campaign until he was kicked out of the family or he dropped out himself. At the moment, he wasn’t sure how to go with dropping out. For some reason, he was more scared to leave his family than he was to stay for the moment. There was something fundamentally wrong in his brain for him to feel that way, he thought.

Instead of going straight to the office Monday morning, Sirius left the Potter’s early and went home to change into running clothes. When Remus offered to talk to him on his run, Sirius was floored. He didn’t know what to say to him because Sirius was sure that most strangers in his life, and most of his family, never did anything without wanting something from Sirius. Really, even if Remus wanted something he was curious.

Thankfully Remus was alone when he found him stretching out by a bench. He had a hat on, pulled over his curly brown hair. The slightly taller man was wearing a BU tank top and running shorts that showed off his long legs.

“Oh, you came.” Remus pulled his earbuds out then put them in his pocket. “I wasn’t sure…”

“You meant it, right?” Sirius asked hurriedly.

“I don’t say things I don’t mean often.” Remus said with a shrug. “Come on, let’s run.”

They began at a slow pace without speaking until Sirius cleared his throat. Sirius figured it’d be weird if he came all the way out to Somerville and not even speak to Remus outside of their brief greeting. “I don’t know what I’m meant to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything.” Remus shrugged.

“Have the new polls come out yet?”

“No, not yet. Probably later today,” Remus looked at his watch. “How’d it go after the debate? Ah, if you want to talk about it that is.”

“It went probably a million times worse than you’re thinking it went.” Sirius huffed a breath. “Your degrees are both from BU, right?”

“Yeah.”

“They teach you how to decimate someone in a debate like that there?”

Remus laughed and shook his head. “No, I learned that on my high school debate team at Boston Latin.”

“Of course you were on the debate team.”

“What does that mean?” Remus raised an eyebrow.

“You have a nerdy air about you.” Sirius waved a hand around. It was a very specific type of hipster nerd that wasn’t obviously nerdy, but it was there. Like he probably had a Star Wars tie that you couldn’t quite tell was Star Wars unless you got a closer look. “It’s a good thing.”

“Thanks, I think.”

“You also feel like you have some deep seated rebel gene in there.”

“Oh, for sure.” Remus grinned and said in a way that spoke volumes to the kind of secret rebel he probably was.

“Future Congressman, what have you done?”

“Man, do you think I trust you enough yet to spill those secrets?” Remus questioned him as he picked up the pace. “You’ll find out in good time if you keep coming on these runs.

Sirius understood why Remus would say that. They were opponents. Sirius was already giving himself away too much. Granted, he probably bared most of his soul the night of the debate. If Remus wanted to ruin him, he’d bring out the fact that Sirius seemed to hate his own family. Maybe that was what Remus was doing with him. To his surprise, Sirius didn’t feel nervous about that. He was almost ready to be ruined.

“Wanna race?” Remus grinned over at him.

“Sure.” Sirius said.

“From here to the bench down there. Loser has to buy the post-run juice from the place I like nearby.”

“Deal.” Sirius said then they broke out in an all out sprint.

Remus won.

With that, Sirius began attending morning runs with Remus. He would wake up early, get over to Somerville to run and chat, rush home to shower, and then get over to the campaign office. Remus would have some quick-witted comment about something Sirius’ campaign did the previous day on their run. These morning made the days much easier to get through.

Remus was now 12 points ahead of Sirius. The Black campaign was in a frenzy, trying to make up the lost ground. They actually tried to be progressive for a moment, but that blew up in their face. Sirius wanted to scream at them all that they needed to stop because they were just going to keep bleeding out votes. There was no saving it, the moment Remus brought up Walburga’s tirade it was all over. Sirius wished he was more excited about it.

Even though the days were hard to get through, the mornings were terrible to wake up for. Remus and Sirius were becoming friends, at least he thought. Sirius didn’t have many friends, but this felt like one. The man was nice to him, they talked about topics that weren’t their election most of the time. Something nice that Sirius found one day that Remus loved puns.

“Are you being serious?” Remus questioned after Sirius said his mother picked his college major.

“I’m always Sirius.”

“I fell right into that trap, fuck. You like puns?”

“Dude, I live for puns.”

“How punderful.” Remus laughed. “You should use them more.”

“I’ve been told a million times to stop with the puns.” Sirius couldn’t count the times that people in his life told him to stop making jokes with puns, especially about his name.

“Well, those people are all stupid.”

Sirius’ newfound friendship with the man who should have been his enemy was kept quiet. Sunglasses and hats were great disguises. At least that was what Sirius thought until he was walking back to the T stop he needed to get home. Marlene was waiting for him with a juice in her hand.

“Running with the enemy I see.” She sipped the green juice, looking over her sunglasses at Sirius. “Sleeping with him too if I’m reading the homoerotic undertones correctly.”

“You followed me?” Sirius asked in mock anger because he didn’t give a fuck about her knowing. He knew that she wouldn’t say anything to his mother. Marlene could barely stand his mother. It was a miracle that Marlene was still working for the Black campaign.

“I wanted to know why you were always slightly late since after the debate.” She shrugged as they took the stairs down to the platform. “Are you and him dating? That was a lot of laughing and back patting between opponents.”

“We’re not dating.” Sirius quickly and quietly. “That’s insane.”

“Is it? Is it as insane as Sirius Black coming out to Somerville every morning just to run with the man who completely obliterated him during a debate, causing his campaign to fall to pieces?” Marlene pondered as she worked to get her Charlie Card out.

“Fuck off, Marlene.” He said. “He’s a nice guy.”

“I’m sure he is. He’s smart too. Great policy talk and he has plans. Charismatic. He’s got guts. If I were into dudes, I’d fuck him.”

Sirius glared at her as they went through the turnstiles. “Good for you. I think you’re into his finance person.” Sirius noticed that Dorcas Meadows had been texting Marlene quite a bit.

“Yeah, we’re talking campaign stuff, just like you and Remus.”

“We don’t talk a lot about the campaign very much.” Sirius shrugged a shoulder.

“Then what are you doing if you’re not friends or fucking?”

“Letting off steam with someone who understands what’s happening.” Sirius supplied to her because that was all that it was. The runs were a way for both to be free from the campaign for a little while without having to worry about all the other shit.

“As long as you’re not giving away any secrets, I guess it’s fine.”

“It’s not like we’re winning anything anyway, Marlene.” Sirius said, looking up at the board to see what time the train was going to get there.

_Delayed — 20 minutes_

“You’re fucking kidding me.” Sirius groaned.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sirius and Remus get a bit closer. Sirius makes a choice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Celebrating (not really) the 4th of July with a double update!

> _Black - 39%_   
>  _Lupin - 54%_   
>  _Undecided - 7%_

All Remus could hear was the pounding of their feet on the pavement as they were in a full out sprint towards their bench. Yes, _their_ bench because Sirius and Remus raced each other to the same damn bench every day. Somehow, this was _their thing_. Remus was friendly with the man he was running against, not that Sirius seemed very keen on running for the seat any longer. It appeared as if the Black campaign was going on without him. Sirius was just there and did as he was told.

“Fuck you!” Remus said, grabbing on to the edge of the bench and bending over, trying to catch his breath.

It was so hot and muggy out. Really, he was crazy for thinking a run was a good idea this morning. He was dying to go get their usual post-run juice. The thought of even walking back in that direction seemed so far away. Remus wiped a hand across his brow and looked at Sirius who was lifting his shirt up to wipe the sweat from his face. Remus quickly averted his eyes because he didn’t want to stare at Sirius’ bare abdomen. Well, he did want to stare, but it wasn’t something he should do.

Yes, Remus was completely attracted to Sirius Black. He wasn’t just a pretty empty headed man like Remus always thought. Sirius had lots of depth to him, most of which Remus was sure he hadn’t even begun to discover. He was hilarious too when he opened up, on top of being smart. It didn’t help that Sirius was a breathtaking type of good looking. The whole thing was unfair. He just wanted to be Sirius’ friend, he didn’t want to think about having sex with him.

“Aww, I’m so sorry Remus. You are going to have to lose at some things every so often.” Sirius whacked him on the shoulder. “Come on, let’s make our way back so you can get your juice and get one with some more winning. So, what are you doing this weekend? Any events?”

Remus stood up straight and they took a slow jog back to the juice shop. “I’m actually free as a bird from Friday night until Sunday. At least I think. Peter is taking his girlfriend Mary out of town for the weekend.”

“Where to?”

“Down the Cape. P-town they rented a little cottage. It looks very nice. I’m somewhat jealous.”

“Mmm, I’d love a vacation.” Sirius nodded. “So, you’re going to be alone in your apartment all weekend?”

Remus’ nodded. “Yep. Want to come over and see enemy headquarters? We could binge watch West Wing.” He figured it might be nice to move his friendship with Sirius to the next step. The campaign didn’t have much time left, and Remus wanted Sirius in his life after it all. Yes, he wanted to have sex with the other man but he also wanted to stay friends.

“That’d be awesome, yeah, sure.” Sirius nodded with a genuine smile, not his fake campaign one. “I can’t do Friday night because I have to do to some stupid gala.”

“Wow, they’re letting you out of the house?” Remus joked. Sirius had barely been able to do anything since the debate. It seemed more tightly controlled now than it was before the debate. The campaign stops he did go on, were stilted and looked so awkward.

“Very funny, Lupin.” Sirius scoffed, picking up the pace a little more. Remus wanted to beg him to stop running, but he also didn’t want to give in. He was a competitive asshole sometimes, especially with Sirius. Plus, he wanted his juice and it was the only way to get back. “Yes, they gatekeepers are freeing me to some extent for the evening with the political elite. Lots of ass kissing. None of which I’m interested in.”

“Be sure to talk me up.”

“Oh, I will.”

Remus couldn’t tell if Sirius was being funny, or if he would honestly talk about Remus at the event. Somedays, Remus wanted to be a fly on the wall the see what the Black family was like. From the insinuations that Sirius made, and the glimpses Remus had seen, he knew that the family was mostly terrible. For Sirius to be somewhat normal was amazing.

In all honesty, Remus was waiting for the other shoe to drop. He was waiting for Sirius to go back out on the campaign trail and betray Remus in someway. Not that Remus gave him much, but he was sure that the man could come up with something to try to pull him down. He didn’t see or feel that in Sirius, though. What he saw in Sirius was a man who was trapped somewhere he didn’t want to be.

“So, do you want to come over on Saturday, then? We’ll order from the Korean place that’s down the block from me. It’s fucking delicious.” Remus grinned.

“Shall I bring drinks?”

“If you want.”

“Excellent. I’ll be there at 5?”

Remus agreed. Seeing Sirius out of their usual element was going to be interesting. They were going to be alone in a room together where things were going to probably be brought up. There was no way they were going to avoid getting a little deeper without things getting awkward. Remus was ready and interested.

“One more full sprint to the end?”

Remus groaned, looking down to the other bench then to Remus. He knocked Sirius in the shoulder then made a run for it because he couldn’t beat back his competitive nature for too long.

> **RJLupin — 1 hr ago**   
>  _About a month away from the primary and **@SiriusBlack’s** campaign still has not answered if they are behind Riddle or not. This should be an easy answer, don’t you think._

Sirius arrived prompted at 5:00 P.M. Saturday with a bottle of expensive whiskey and a 12 pack of Harpoon UFO. “I don’t know what you drank, so I guessed. Variety. Also, don’t stand behind Riddle, but my family probably does. I’m not privy to the political wheeling and dealing just yet. They probably won’t let me on to that level until I get into Washington. Which is not going to happen.”

As Sirius came inside, Remus took the 12 pack from him with a laugh. For the last few weeks, Remus would say something on Twitter or at a campaign event, and then Sirius would respond with how he felt on the topic. It was great, and Remus wished the man could run as himself without all the entanglements of the Black family.

“So, I think we’re going to celebrate tonight if you’re interested.” Sirius said as he set the whiskey on the counter.

“Celebrate what?” Remus raised an eyebrow.

“Well, you, I guess. Me too because I’ve come to a decision. I don’t want to run anymore and I need to figure out how I’m going to detach from my family officially.” Sirius said then silence rang out in the apartment.

That was not what Remus was expecting to hear from the other man. “You’re — you’re lying.”

“No.” Sirius took the beer that was still in Remus’ arms and put it on the counter next to the whiskey. “I'm honest. Remus, you’re going to win this thing even if I stayed on. Though, I’m concerned about Lockhart because he’s playing into the independent/centrist group that is out there. We can work with that if you want some of my advice. Marlene is fucking brilliant, you could bring her on too.”

Remus felt as if his brain was skipping all over the place. Sirius was dropping out, he wanted Remus to win, and he wanted to help him. “What?”

“I’ve been thinking about this since I started, and dropping out seemed to be more and more of a possibility. After I was murdered publicly on stage by you, I knew I had to drop out. Then since we started to talk, I don’t know… I — you’re a good person and I know that you’re going to do amazing things.”

“Please tell me you’re saying this because you want to betray me and somehow overcome the hole that has been dug for and also by you?” Remus raised an eyebrow, watching Sirius open the 12 pack.

“Look, Remus. I’m — you’ve seen glimpses of me these last few weeks, right? Outside of the campaign trail, I’m not a stuck up typical politician asshole.”

“No, you’re not for the most part.” Remus said as Sirius handed him a beer.

“I — I’m gay. I’ve been in the closet since I was a teenager. I can’t do it anymore. I want to be who I am for once and for all.” Sirius had made plenty of insinuations of the last few weeks that Remus was wondering if that was a possibility. Remus thought maybe he was projecting or hoping.

“Thank you for telling me that.”

“The only people who know that are involved in the campaign are Reg and Marlene do. My best mates, Lily and James, and my cousin Andi, her husband, and kid. Oh, and my Uncle Al and his partner. Those are the only people I’ve ever told.” Sirius cracked opened the can. “Well, and obviously the guys I’ve slept with.”

“I can’t believe you’re saying these things. I’m not in some alternate reality am I? This is all very real, right?”

Sirius nodded. “The more time I spent with you, the more I realized I couldn’t fake it any longer. I’m scared because my parents are who they are and the… I — I know it’s going to be hard.”

Remus frowned, unsure of what to say. This felt like a very big moment for Sirius, and Remus didn’t want to mess it all up. He also felt like he didn’t have anything good to offer Sirius. “Let’s drink then.”

“Cheers to that,” Sirius grinned before tapped his can with Remus.

***

“Fuck the establishment.” Sirius said before clinking his glass with Remus’. Sirius was feeling like himself around a person who was not James or Lily for the first time in a very long time. It felt right and okay to do be that way in Remus’ apartment. He wanted to be that way all the time, even though the thought of getting to that point was frightening.

The other man was on a tirade about Riddle, and Sirius had never been so attracted to anyone before in his life. It was infuriating how informed and articulate Remus was, even when he was wasted. _Fuck. Fuck. Fuck._

“You know, all I want to do is fix the fucking T so I can get where I need to be on time. The MBTA sucks so much. Also, the rate hikes need to stop. Not to mention the crime in our city. It’s --“

“Sirius, do you want to be mayor?” Remus raised an eyebrow arm across the back of the couch.

“Yeah! I do, actually. I think I’d be a good fucking mayor but it was Washington or bust. Guess it’s going to be bust.”

“You could still be mayor one day.”

Sirius laughed and shook his head. That was all some far off fancy now. “After this campaign? I’ll be lucky if I could win a seat on some small sort of town board in the middle of nowhere.”

Remus frowned. “You should think about it one day. I’m sure you’d be amazing.”

“You’re going to be an amazing rep, you know?” Sirius countered. Remus had made a few self-deprecating comments that made Sirius wonder how confident he was.

“Sure.”

“Do you not believe that?” Sirius was slightly concerned.

“Look, I’m confident in my knowledge, but getting to the execution part is scaring me a little because I’ve never done it. Also, when I do big speeches, or even that debate, I wanted to puke everywhere.” Remus sighed and looked down at the glass in his hand. “I put on a confident front but I’m freaking the fuck out a lot.”

Sirius couldn’t help the fond smile that blossomed on his face. There were brief moments where Sirius could see it, but for some reason hearing Remus tell him felt intimate almost. Like the other man finally trusted him. “Fake it til you make it as they say, huh? You’re going to be a fucking amazing . Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. You’ll be 100 times better than I would have been.”

“I think if you got to be yourself, you could probably outdo me. No, I know you could.” Remus countered then took a sip of his whiskey. “You’re amazing, Sirius. I just wish that your family let you be you.”

“Maybe we’re both suited for different things. You could be suited for DC, and I could be suited for the city.”

“Then one day we could be President and Vice President.” Remus snorted a laugh then covered his face. “Oh dear fucking god, Sirius you got me drunk.”

“Mmm, you’re the one that invited me over to binge drink and watch a few episodes of West Wing.”

“It was meant to be binge watch The West Wing and have a few drinks.” Remus waved a finger at him. The sound of a new episode of the show came on. “Somehow it got a mixed up.”

Sirius laughed, turning his whole body towards Remus so his legs were up on the couch. “I am worried about Lockhart.”

“Ohhhh, we’re going to get serious now.”

“Darling, I’m always Sirius.”

Remus chuckled. “Okay, yes, I’m worried about Lockhart too.”

“We’ll figure it out. Edgar, he’s good, you should have him on your team. Marls is wasted as my personal aide, so you need her too. I’ll get you the good people on my team. You have a fucking amazing team though, don’t think I’m looking down on them.”

“You do want me to win?”

“Absolutely.” Sirius was slightly offended that Remus would think otherwise. But, up until a few weeks ago they were running against one another and Remus thought Sirius was just like is parents. “I’m not sure if you’d want it but I’d like to help too. Not in this state because I’m fucking shit faced.”

“Yeah, that’d be brilliant.”

They got off of campaign talk eventually, and settled into watching the show. At one point, Remus asked Sirius about his father. Sirius explained to him about his fathers’ diagnosis of some complicated neurological disease, which he could barely pronounce sober let alone drunk. He didn’t have much longer. “I don’t even really know him. He worked so much, and we lived up here. It was like not even having a father.”

“Mmm, welcome to the daddy issues club.” Remus shook his head.

“It’s a shitty fucking club, but at least you’re decent company.” Sirius put his hand on Remus’ knee. “Your mother seems lovely though. I have mommy issues too, so I’m a big mess.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, well, I’m going to come out so she can just fucking drop dead.” Sirius said. He knew that it was harsh, but after so many years of being pulled apart by his mother, he didn’t have many fucks left. The idea of coming out and also leaving the campaign made him sick to his stomach, no matter how gung ho he was about it.

“Do you have a good support system outside of your parents?”

Sirius nodded. “Yeah, I have some decent people in my life who I know will love me no matter what. I think I really should go to therapy too.”

Remus made a noise in agreement, “Yeah, therapy is great. I go. I can give you the name of where I go.”

“That’d be — yeah… thanks.” Sirius leaned forward a little into Remus’ space. “I should go it’s getting late. I need to make a plan on how I’m going to leave starting tomorrow. I can’t hang in this mess anymore.” He stood up then nearly fell back.

“Are you okay to get home?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” Sirius assured him.

“Let’s call you a cab.” Remus insisted.

Sirius nodded as he walked towards the kitchen. “I’ll get a water and you do that.”

Remus did so and a moment later a cab was on its way to get Sirius. Going home by cab was probably the best because Sirius wasn’t in a state to manage getting a train and walking home alone. How on earth did they get so drunk?

“I’ll go wait downstairs. I need some fresh air.” His head was spinning a little. It had been a while since he had drank so much. He was feeling giddy and happy though.

“Sure, if that’s what you want. It’s only going to be a couple minutes anyhow.” Remus went for the door.

After Remus opened the door, they both stood there for a moment. Sirius looked up at Remus’ lips and the other man licked them. It was not a good idea, but Sirius really want to kiss him. How did he get here? It wasn’t that long ago that Remus was killing him on the stage during their debate. Now they were friends and Sirius wanted to kiss his new friend. Not just kiss. No, much more than that.

Instead of doing something stupid, Sirius wrapped his arms around Remus in a hug to say goodbye. He rested his head on the other man’s shoulder and breathed in his earthy scent for a moment. Sirius took one more deep breath then pulled back. “Thanks for the night, Remus.”

“No worries, any time.”

“Especially after I drop out.” Sirius took a step back.

“If you need anything, let me know, okay?”

“Will do.”

Sirius forced himself to leave.

When the cab pulled up, Sirius decided that he couldn’t go back to his apartment and be alone. He ended up on James and Lily’s doorstep, as usual. Lily greeted him half asleep. She gave him a hug then went straight to bed after making sure he was okay. James was still wide awake on the sofa.

“What’s wrong?”

“Well, a couple things. I’m going to drop out of the race, my family is going to disown me, and I really want to have sex with Remus Lupin.” Sirius laid it all out on the table for James.

The other man, used to Sirius making dramatic statements just nodded. “So, what can I do for you?”

“Help me write a speech where I really dig into Walburga and the rest then I can fuck off somewhere for a while until things die down. I can take care of the Remus thing on my own, I think.”

“Yeah, I can help you with the other things. You can go down to mom and dad’s place in Rhode Island. A few days on the beach would be good. Or you could spend time with Andi and Ted up in Maine, I’m sure.”

“We’ll get to the fucking off part at another point. I want to make it abundantly clear that Remus is the right choice for the seat. Lockhart’s a bastard but people like him for some reason.”

“For all the reasons they liked you up until they realized that you didn’t want to be there. He’s fake and plastic.” James shrugged, reaching for the computer on the coffee table. “So, what exactly do we want to say to the wretched bitch?"


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sirius drops out then visits Remus.

> _Black - 36%_   
>  _Lupin - 62%_   
>  _Undecided - 2%_

Remus woke up the morning after Sirius had come over his place with a massive hangover. It grew worse because Hestia and Dorcas were jumping on his bed to wake him up. “Go the fuck away.” He groaned, pulling a pillow over his head.

“Come on, Moony, let’s face the day! We don’t have a weekend! We live and breathe this campaign. It is us. It is you. We are the campaign.” Dorcas said as they both continued to bounce.

“Why does it smell like a distillery in this apartment? Are you drinking alone?” Hestia questioned, hopping off the bed with a thud. The people who lived on the ground floor were going to kill him.

Remus groaned again, sitting up in his bed. Dorcas stopped jumping and sat down next to him. “Fuck. God. I had someone over for your information.” He rubbed his face. Remus didn’t want to let them know that it was Sirius Black that was in his apartment. That was a mountain he was choosing not to climb at this very moment. It wasn’t as if they had sex. They didn’t even kiss, though there were two moments that he was sure Sirus was going to kiss him. Not that he really minded too much.

The night before had been a lot in the best possible way. Sirius was fully himself, and it was amazing. Remus wanted the man out there in the world shining like that all the time. He felt privileged to see Sirius on display. It was unfair that someone so bright was shoved in a box and tamed. Remus longed to be around Sirius when he was young and free at school. Those must have been wonderful times.

“Who on earth are you fucking? Should the campaign worry? Should we know?”

“I’m not fucking them. It… it was a date and I don’t want to tell you who it is because it was just one date.” Remus figured that would be a decent enough lie. They didn’t need to know everything about him. Also, if he said it was just a friend then they would press more about who it was. A secret friend was stranger than a secret date. “If it turns into anything, I’ll let you in on the secret.”

“Ugh, fine.” Hestia opened his closet. “Is it one of the people on staff? Don’t tell me you’re fucking an intern. That’s too classic.”

“I am not fucking an intern.” Remus said as Hestia threw a pair of jeans at him.

“Whatever. Okay, so we need to start worrying about Lockhart I think.”

“Si— See, yeah, I was thinking the same thing.” Remus hoped he didn’t sound like an idiot because he almost said Sirius’ name. He had been doing a good job not talking about the other man as if they were friends. It was becoming more and more difficult to pretend that he didn’t really know the other man.

“Great, let’s get to work.”

***

“Are you okay?” James asked at lunch before he was going to give his speech that would change the path of his life.

Sirius wasn’t okay. He was anxious and stressed. The possibility of his family striking back at him was high. Al, Tonks, Andi, and Ted were all on red alert. James and Lily knew what was going to happen as well, they were going to be waiting in a car outside to help him make a quick getaway. His whole life was about to start over in a matter of minutes. It was about time for it to happen, but he was still stressed about it.

“I will be eventually.”

“Whatever you need, we got you, Sirius.” Lily reminded him.

“I know you do. You always do.”

Sirius needed to take the leap. He had been agonizing about it all long enough. There was no need for him to keep appearances anymore. Sirius had no care to keep those appearances. Sirius was ready to dive off the deep end into the unknown. There were going to be people who caught him. He just hoped that it would all be enough.

***  
 **Transcript**  
 **Sirius Black’s Campaign Ending Speech**  
 **(Nice Title James)**

_Thank you all for having me here at your community center. I know you’re all expecting me to make a speech about the opioid epidemic and how I plan to combat it. That’s not what’s going to happen. My opponent has some great ideas, I would look to him for that. Today, I have a few surprising things to say instead that will probably interest many people._

_To start with, I’m gay. As you know, and as you’ve heard, my mother would much rather drop dead than to have a gay son. I’m assuming she’s beginning to plan her own funeral now. If we listen closely we can hear her distant screams. I’ve been the closet for years, and I can’t do this any longer. I’m not sure if she’s going to be more upset that I’m gay, or that she thinks I’m ruining my chances at winning._

_My chances at winning this race fell to pieces the moment that I went up to Remus Lupin at Pride. This isn’t his fault. He was doing what was smart, and what was right. He was reminding the world that my family is not the liberal bastion that they pretend to be. I have an uncle who was forced out of the family because he was gay and a cousin who was kicked out because she dared not to marry the man who got her pregnant._

_Our history is clouded by people like the Blacks. Our lives are run by a patriarchal oligarchy that was constructed ages ago. The rich white men, mostly older and mostly straight have set us on this path. A path that is just filled with terrible things. For instance, we are currently debating if children on the border should be with their parents or if the kids should even have bottled water or not. This hasn’t just happened. This has been building up for years._

_Riddle has declared that he’s making this country great again, but I’m unsure of who exactly it is going to be great for. It’s not great for most people who are like my opponent. Remus Lupin is a descent of immigrants, bisexual, and grew up in what is deemed a bad area of the city with a single working mother and a dad who was never in his life but often in jail. There was never a great time in history for Remus to be here._

_This country isn’t great for women now, it hasn’t even been decent. We take away rights to their own bodies. God, if you’re a woman of color or if you’re apart of the LGBT community or if you’re an immigrant — you’re screwed more or less._

_It’s not great here unless if you were an average to a rich white straight guy. It has never been great for everyone at the same time at the moment in time. Even in our brightest moments, we had a dark history. But there were always glimmers of hope. There were always people making it better, today it just seems like those people have been pushed aside and silenced. But, I swear there is hope out there._

_Establishment Democrats, like my family and others have worked to get us in this terrible position right along with the Republicans. Centrist have helped us with the status quo while letting the far right bring us down the hole. It’s about time that we even things out._

_So, that’s why I’m dropping out of the race. Not that I’m a centrist, no, I’m as progressive as Remus Lupin I just never had a chance to say it. My words and actions were manipulated and watched over by people who I hoped loved and cared for me. Of course I was wrong about that. The people in my life cared more about votes than they cared about me and my opinion._

_Remus has been straight with you from the beginning. He’s real and honest, and I know that he’s going to do what’s right for this district. Please, listen to him and what he has to say. It’s important._

_I apologize for wasting everyone’s time. I know that some people were satisfied to see me flounder. At the start, I had good intentions but I realized that I would never get out from under my family’s thumb without violently detaching myself, so that’s what this is. A violent detachment._

_Please continue to care and continue to try to change the world. Maybe I’ll see you all again someday._

_Vote Lupin!_

_Vote Vance too!_

***

The Lupin for Congress office was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop during and then for a full minute after the speech. Remus audibly gasped when Sirius came out on the live stream of his speech. The man was going to be putting himself through hell, but maybe it was the better hell than what he had to look forward to if he stayed with his family.

What a speech. About 700 words or so to dismantle a legacy. It was Sirius through and through, clearly he actually wrote it. Remus saw him shine the other night when he came over and when they would go on their runs. He wanted everyone to see that Sirius Black was a good person, and that he was capable of doing great things outside of his family time would time.

“Holy shit.” Hestia was the first to speak in the office. “That’s — what the fuck.”

Remus bit his lip. He wanted to tell them all that he knew Sirius was planning this for at least the last few days, but he knew what it would sound like. Remus stayed quiet. Plus, he didn’t know exactly what was going to happen, or how it would happen. Really, he thought Sirius might drop out quietly then slide away for a bit.

“We’re going to win the primary no matter what.” Dorcas said.

“Fuck the primary for a second.” Frank said. “This is the end of the Blacks. He just crumbled his family’s legacy. That was nearly as bad as Thanos’ snap.”

“Damn.” Alice shook her head. “Who would have guessed something like that was going to happen?”

“Uh, me. We talked.” Remus said and everyone looked at him with wide eyes. Hestia turned her head so fast to look at him that he was sure she was going to need to see a chiropractor. “Before the debate, he said he — he basically said that he didn’t want any of this.”

“And you didn’t tell us?” Hestia question.

“That was the only time you talked?” Dorcas asked as if she knew the answer.

Remus was about to answer but Hestia was asking him what Sirius said at the debate. He gave her some vague answers to placate her, but he was wondering what or how Dorcas knew there was more. Maybe she saw them both running one day. It was risky. Anyone could see them on the path.

After the lightning round with Hestia. They decided they weren’t going to get much more work done, so they went to Peter’s parent’s place for drinks. It felt a lot like celebrating an election win, but it wasn’t. He still had a lot more to get through before he was in Washington — namely Gilderoy Lockhart.

“I can’t believe you’re actually doing this somedays.” Peter said, leaning on the bar across from Remus.

“I can’t either.”

“We were teen delinquents.”

“Not really.” Remus snickered and took a drink of his beer. “I was on the debate team with a 4.0 through high school and you were apart of the AV club and editor of the newspaper.”

“We did do dumb shit though.”

“Every teen has done some dumb shit.” Remus shrugged.

“Even Sirius do you think?”

“Oh, Sirius definitely has.” Remus said with a laugh. “One time he—”

Peter leaned forward, “You’ve spoken with him more than outside of the debate?”

“Maybe.” Remus put a hand over his face. Really, he had done so well to keep it hidden. “We may have been running together for the last month. He may have been over the last weekend and told me that he was going to drop out. Don’t say anything though.”

“Whoa.” Peter stood up straight. “Really?”

“Yep.”

“Are you guys—”

“No.” Remus said quickly then dropped his voice. “I don’t think I’d mind if we did…” Remus told Peter everything. It was amazing he lied to him for so long.

“He a good guy?”

“I think so, yeah.”

“You like him?”

“Yeah.”

“Then do it.”

“Eloquent as ever, Wormtail.” Remus laughed. “I don’t know if I want to date him.”

“You don’t have to to get it in.”

“Still, oh so eloquent.”

***

> **YeetIt — 5 mins ago**   
>  _Wow, **@SiriusBlack** was manipulated by his family this whole time? Anyone else looking at the Black family differently?_
> 
> **LilyFlower — 10 mins ago**   
>  _I’m so proud of you **@SiriusBlack**_
> 
> **MarleneMckinnon — 25 mins ago**   
>  _Anyone looking for someone to work on their campaign? I got some people including myself. What’d you say **@RJLupin** **@DorcasMeadow** **s** **@HestiaJones**_
> 
> **BostonGlobe — 30 mins ago**   
>  _Sirius Black has dropped out of the Democrat primary race, bringing his family down with him._

  
**RL:**  
What are you doing?

 **S:**  
Nothing. Hiding out.

 **RL:**   
Doing okay?

 **S:**  
Yeah. Lily and James are occupying me.

 **RL:**  
Ah, was going to see if you wanted  
to come over for a drink. But you’re  
busy.

S:  
No. Yeah. I’ll come over your place.  
Not celebrating?

 **RL:**  
We were at the bar.  
Now I’m going home.  
Peter is staying at Mary’s.

 **S:**  
Ah. I see. Be there soon.

Sirius knew why he was going over Remus’ apartment. It had nothing to do with celebrating Remus’ inevitable victory. It had nothing to do with wanting to develop this friendship now post-campaign. All it had to do with was the fact that he wanted to be with someone for physical comfort that James and Lily were not going to give him. Specifically, he wanted to be with Remus that way.

When he told James and Lily he was going, they were worried. He didn’t tell him that he was going to see Remus, he said he was going home. Sirus didn’t know where things were going to go with the other man. He wasn’t ready to be in a relationship at the moment. His life had been flipped completely upside down. Going headfirst into a relationship at the moment probably wasn’t the best idea.

Remus opened the door, and he was far more sober than Sirius thought he might be at this point. “You’re not drunk are you?” Sirius questioned, just to be sure as he slipped past Remus into the apartment.

“No, maybe a little buzzed.”

“Same here.”

“Glad you didn’t drink away your anxieties and whatever.” Remus cleared his throat as he came into the space between the kitchen and living room with Sirius.

“Me too, mainly because I’m sober enough to come over here.” Sirius stared at Remus for a few seconds. The man’s hazel eyes looked amber in the low light of the apartment. His curly hair was untamed, ask if he had been running his hands through it over and over again. “You asked me over not to watch The West Wing, right?”

“I sent you a near midnight ‘what are you doing’ text, what do you think?” Remus laughed, his cheeks flushing.

“This isn’t — this is just — we’re…”

“I’m in the middle of running for Congress, not sure how much time I’d have to have a relationship.” The other man said, putting Sirius out of his awkward misery.

“Can you just kiss me then?”

“Yeah.” Remus laughed then moved closer to Sirius, sliding his hand up into Sirius’ hair.

“I can finally grow my hair out again.” Sirius said in sudden realization.

“You had long hair?” Remus looked curious, scrunching his nose in thought.

“I was allowed during boarding school, then I had to chop it all off.” Sirius pouted for just a moment before Remus pressed his lips to Sirius’ for a searing kiss.

The feeling of Remus’ lips on his, sent butterflies through his stomach. Sirius wanted Remus to devour him, pull him down and inside out. Being stressed out for the last four days, on top of his usual anxiety was making him feel like utter shit. All he wanted to do was feel something than he usually felt. Remus was good at taking his mind off things on their runs. This was going to be much sweeter.

What was either hours or minutes of kissing in the middle of the kitchen/living room, Remus pulled away. The other man left a few quick pecks right below Sirius’ ear and ran his fingers through his hair again. They stood there for a moment in each other’s space just breathing, then Remus all but dragged Sirius to his bedroom.

Remus’ hands made fast work of Sirius’ clothes once they were in Remus’ room. Sirius liked letting Remus take control. Normally he hated being out of control since his whole life had nearly been orchestrated up until this point. This was good though, Sirius decided as Remus touched him softly, trailing his fingertips lightly up his thighs as they laid in their underwear in bed just kissing.

“Can I fuck you?” Remus’ voice rumbled low in his ear. After asking his teeth nibbled at Sirius’ earlobe. His large hand palmed Sirius through his briefs.

“Oh god, yes.” Sirius arched up into the touch.

Instead of moving to get what he wanted, Remus stayed kissing and teasing Sirius. Trying his best to stay engaged, and not let himself be kissed and touched by Remus, Sirius slipped his hand under the band of Remus’ boxers. He wrapped his hand around Remus’ length which had been pressed against Sirius’ thigh. Thick, long, and hard. The thought of it made his mouth water.

After the kissing and teasing got too much, Remus moved back and reached into his nightstand drawer. He pulled out a condom and a bottle of lube. Sirius watched the other man closely as easily got Sirius out of his briefs, leaving soft kisses on his abdomen. The man’s eyelashes were so long and the freckles on his cheeks and shoulders were like a map. A map that Sirius desperately wanted to be the cartographer of.

While Sirius was distracted by Remus and his freckles and pretty lashes, the other man had opened the lube. Sirius was even more distracted when Remus wrapped his lips around Sirius and pressed a slick finger into him at the same time. Sirius was lost in the pleasure of it all. He gave himself over to Remus’ mouth and fingers. Sirius was sure that he looked like a mess as he moaned and writhed.

“What are you doing?” Sirius actually whined when Remus pulled away from Sirius and sat back on his knees. He hated himself a little for asking as if he were desperate, but he was enjoying Remus so much.

“I want to be in you, Sirius, that’s what this whole exercise was getting too.” Remus said before taking himself in one hand as he tore open the wrapper of the condom with his teeth and his other hand.

“Right, yeah, your mouth is pretty amazing. Just to let you know.”

“Another time, I’ll get you off that way if you want. Or if you don’t get off then.” Remus said as he rolled the condom on.

Sirius agreed then reached out to pull Remus back to him. They both laughed into a sloppy kiss, but then their sloppy kiss turned a bit more heated as Remus pressed into him. Sirius clung on to Remus’ shoulders as Sirius adjusted to Remus inside of him. Through it all, Remus’ lips barely left Sirius.

Now, Sirius had slept with a decent amount of people. He had had some amazing sex and some shitty sex. Sex with Remus was a new level above amazing. Sirius wasn’t sure if it was because of all the feelings that were running through him, or it was just because Remus was that good. Whatever the reason, Sirius wanted to sleep with Remus again.

“Come for me, Sirius.” Remus said as he thrust his hips quickly, one on Sirius’ cock and the other bracing himself over Sirius on the bed.

After Remus said that, it didn’t take much longer. He came, Remus’ name lost on his lips as they kissed again.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after and Sirius decides to runaway for a little while.

Remus rolled over to find the other side of the bed empty when he specifically remembered going to bed with Sirius the night before. If he didn’t that was one hell of a fantasy. He squinted to see that Sirius’ clothes were still in a pile on the floor. Obviously, the other man didn’t flee in the middle of the night naked, so Remus listened closely and heard the shower running. The relief Remus felt was surprising. It wasn’t as if he was expecting more from last night.

There seemed to be something established between them. Sirius wasn’t looking for anything more than someone to hook up within the moment, Remus the same. The thought of having to navigate through a new relationship on top of dealing with campaigning was an exhausting thought. If Remus could have sex with someone every so often, that did sound like a nice stress relief.

Sirius walked back into the room in his briefs, rubbing his hair with the towel. For some reason, Remus couldn’t get Sirius with longer hair out of his mind. He wanted to know what he looked like. Maybe he wanted to see Sirius the rebel more than anything, and having the long hair was an extension of that. No matter what the man would look good.

“I owe Peter contact solution the next time I’m around.” Sirius said as he sat on the edge of his bed. “I should have brought my glasses and stuff over with me last night. I wasn’t thinking.”

Remus laughed, sitting up against his headboard. “You were thinking, just not about your eyes at the moment. I think you’d look great in glasses, you should wear them more often, especially if you grow out your hair.”

“No, I hate them.” Sirius made a face, turning so he could face Remus. “I look like an idiot with them on.”

“I find that highly doubtful.” Remus said and Sirius gave a little shrug. “What are your plans today now that you are a free man?”

“Very big plans, Remus Lupin. I might be dropping off the face of the planet for a little while. It’s probably best not to be in the city for a little while. I need to go visit my uncle in cousin in Allston first, then I’ll be off.” Sirius explained. “They keep texting me, so I want to let them know I’m okay and it’s not some imposter talking to them. They probably would assume the Blacks kidnapped me and tried to force me back into my box.”

“It’s a bookshop that your uncle owns, right?”

“Yeah. It’s called Flourish and Blots. Don’t ask me why, he can be kind of strange sometimes.” Sirius smiled fondly. “You should stop in if you ever have the time.”

“Maybe I will one day.”

“Your To Be Read pile looks a little overflowing but you can’t ever have too many books.” Sirius said after pointing to Remus’ nightstand where about ten books were piled up.

“My mom told me I should get rid of some of my books the last time Pete and I moved. I think I only got rid of like three and they were for college textbooks that weren’t useful to me.”

“Too many books is a good problem to have.” Sirius decided, pulling his legs up to his chest.

“Do you know where you’re going to go when you drop off the face of the earth as you say?”

Sirius shrugged. “Down to the Potter’s place in Newport. They have a house on a private beach. That’s my friend James’ family. The one I said is basically my second family.”

“House or mansion on the beach?”

“Mansion.” Sirius snorted a laugh. “They are apart of the 1 percent. I swear they’re good people though.”

“No, I’ve heard about the Potters.” Remus said. Effe and Monty Potter were insanely charitable people. They were also always standing up for people who didn’t get to have a voice. The two worked hard to the right thing. Their son even worked as a lawyer for the ACLU in Boston.

“They’re great, you’d love them. Everyone loves them, as they should.” Sirius said eagerly. “I wish they were my parents. They treat me better — they treat me much better than my own.”

Remus wished he could fix that for Sirius, but knew that it was impossible. The only person that was going to be able to make things better for Sirius, was Sirius. His parents were still going to be horrible, but Sirius was hopefully going to be able to find ways to heal all the damage they had done. It was going to be difficult for Sirius, but Remus was sure he was stronger enough to do it.

“I’m sorry, Sirius.”

“It sucks, but whatever. I’m free now, and I have to deal with the fallout. Ah, do you have the information for your therapist by any chance?”

“Oh, yeah, I’ll text it to you.” Remus said, reaching for his phone on the side table.

“Thanks. I really appreciate you letting me sort of let everything out to you. I know that we started out as sort of—”

“Fuck,” Remus said as he looked at a series of messages that came in about twenty minutes beforehand.

 **DM:**  
On our way over with coffee,  
donuts, and a surprise!

 **HJ:**  
Get ready to kick some ass.

 **FD:**  
I’ll meet you at Remus’

 **AL:**  
Frank and I are coming too

 **CW:**  
Bill and I will be there too!

“What’s wrong?” Sirius raised an eyebrow.

“Like, my main team are all on their way over right now because apparently they don’t know how to take a day to celebrate a win.” Remus got out of bed. “Not that I’m pushing you out. You can stay as long as you’d like, but I highly doubt you want to live some new version of the Spanish Inquisition or the McCarthy Hearings or whatever in terms of my sex life.”

Sirius got out of bed, reaching for his clothes, “No thanks. You’re great but I’m not interested in explaining this to anyone at the moment. I’m not interested in any judgement, I’ve had enough of that lately.”

Quickly as they could, they both got dressed. Remus just threw on a pair of gym shorts and a tee shirts as Sirius did he best to make his wrinkly clothes look all right. “I feel like this is a very walk of shame look. I should be used as an example on Urban Dictionary or something.” Sirius said smoothing his hand down the front of his shirt once more as they walked towards the front door.

“At least you always look nice.” Remus tried to make the other man feel a bit better. “Good luck on your dropping off the face of the world. I’m sure that it will be good for your brain.”

“I’ll text you or something soon I want to hear all about the race. You’re going to kick major fucking ass in it, by the way even if Lockhart will try to give you a run for your money.”

“I’ll send you my therapist’s information in a minute too.” Remus said as he opened the door. “You’ll like her.”

Sirius nodded then gave him a peck on the cheek before stepping out into the hallway. Of course Dorcas, Hestia, Fleur, Frank, and Alice were all just coming up the stairs — Sirius’ personal aide was there too much to Remus’ surprise.

“HA!” Sirius’ aide said with a laugh. “I knew it! You were so boning this whole time.”

“What the hell is going on? Why are you standing in Remus’ hallway?” Sirius questioned her. “We also have not been — no we have not been having sex this whole time.”

“I’d ask you what you’re doing here but that hickey on your neck and the wrinkled clothes really speak for themselves.”

Remus covered his face with his hands. This was great. Exactly how he was hoping his morning would go. “Okay, ah, why are you here…”

“Marlene McKinnon.” She smiled, sticking her hand out for Remus to shake.

“What’s going on?”

“Her and your finance person, Dorcas, are banging.” Sirius said with a raised eyebrow and Dorcas flushed.

“That’s not what I’m doing here. I’m here to help you win a campaign.” Marlene shook her head.

“She’s your new campaign manager.” Hestia said with a big grin. “Look, I’m good but I have no real experience in winning. Marlene does.”

“She’s really good and a big old lesbian, so you know she’ll fit in with your merry group of queer marauders.” Sirius nodded. “She should have been more than my personal aide but my dear mother wouldn’t hear anything of it. You’re in good hands.”

“Ah, thanks. Do you all want to come in?” Remus pointed behind him.

“Yeah, we’ll leave you to make out with Sirius alone.” Alice winked at him as she walked by him.

“That’s not what’s happening here.” Remus groaned as everyone began to file into his apartment. “You’re lucky you’re leaving.” Remus looked to the other man.

“They’ll give you some shit, but I’m sure they’ll happily get along with the election. Be a politician, make a statement.” Sirius laughed, the bit his lip. “I’m going to go. I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah, bye.” Remus said then felt a bit awkward. He wasn’t sure what to do because he felt like he should kiss Sirius. At the same time, it didn’t feel right to kiss him. That wasn’t what they were doing.

“See you later.” Sirius winked before going for the stairs.

Remus took a deep breath then went back inside his apartment. Everyone was looking over the donuts and Hestia was walking over to him with his iced coffee. “You want to say something about Sirius?”

“I’ll make a statement then we’ll move on, okay? I say this, lay it out there, and then we move on to important things.” Remus took his offered coffee.

Everyone nodded.

“All right, so Sirius and I became friends after the debate and we’ve been going on morning runs together since. He has been over before, that was this past Saturday. No, we did not have sex then and no it wasn’t a date like I said it was to Hestia and Dorcas to get them off my back. Yes, we did hook up last night, and no we are not dating because of 1. Neither of us have to for that. 2. Neither have the energy for that. And 3. Neither of us have the mental ability to dive into it at the moment. I also would not like it to be publicly known I’m sleeping with Sirius because god knows what the fuck would come from that. We’re just friends.”

Marlene took a sip of her coffee with a raised eyebrow. “Sure, yeah, friends. We’ll make sure we keep it out of the public eye no matter friends or not. I don’t want the Blacks to get their slimy little hands all over it.”

Remus agreed with that.

“Let’s talk about Lockhart.”

***

Sirius left Remus’ apartment and went straight to his place in Cambridge. On the way he did his best not to think too much about the other man. He was more worried about getting photographed looking like he had a rough night than his feelings for the time being. His night wasn’t that rough, it was actually amazing. The best night that he had had in ages, even with the fact that he had destroyed his family legacy in a few words. None of that really mattered now. In any case, he didn’t want to be pictured.

By some type of cosmic grace, he didn’t see one reporter anywhere. Maybe they were too busy camping out in front of his parent’s home. Whatever the reason for his freedom, he was thankful. Sirius got changed, packed his bag for two weeks, and then headed for his car. Running away always sounded like a good idea to him, and now he was going to finally be able to do so.

There was only one stop he wanted to make before going down to Newport. Tonks and Al were probably dying to know how he was doing. Saying ‘I’m fine’ in text messages seemed very empty, so he went over to Allston. It took a million years to find a decent parking space not too far from the shop.

When he walked in, Tonks, Al, and Al’s partner, Richard, were looking at an iPad. They all grinned when they realized that he walked into the room. “You did it!” Tonks nearly tripped over herself as she came to give him a hug.

“Yeah, yeah, I did.”

“That was some speech, Sirius.” Al said as Tonks crushed Sirius.

“That’s Uncle Al.” Sirius spoke as soon as he could breathe when Tonks let go of him.

“That was very brave.” Richard smiled. “Are you doing all right?”

“Yeah, ah, I’m doing okay.” Sirius said.

Really, he wasn’t very sure what he felt like. Between the adrenaline that was coursing through his veins then a couple of drinks, and then sleeping with Remus everything was sort of all over the place. He knew that it would hit him eventually — the years of abuse, being belittled and manipulated, and now he was finally free and completely lost in life at almost 30.

“Do you want a coffee?” Tonks offered him.

“No, I’m on my way to the Potter’s in Newport. If I leave now, I’ll hit the least amount of traffic.” Sirius explained.

“Well, when you’re back in the city we’ll do dinner to celebrate.” Al nodded.

“I’m sure mom and dad would like to join. They’re visiting in a few weeks.”

“Yeah, we’ll do something when they’re down. Tell them I said hi.”

“I will, mom is freaking the fuck out.” Tonks snorted a laugh. “Nice hickey by the way.”

Sirius’ hand went up too is neck automatically. “Right.”

“If you’re dating this person who gave you the hickey when Andi and Ted are in town, you’ll need to invite them too. We haven’t met anyone you’ve ever dated.”

That was because Sirius had never dated anyone he had been interested in much more than a passing thing. Everything was hot, intense, and then burned out as quickly as it started. Sirius was never in love with any of them. He wondered if that was because he wouldn’t let himself be in love with them. They were all fine. Sure, maybe some of them he could have let in more… but love?

“I’m not sure if that will happen.”

“Well, you’re no longer in the closet, so you can do whatever you please. If you please to bring him around, we’d love to meet him.”

Sirius wished he knew what he was going to be doing with Remus in a couple weeks time, but he wasn’t sure. Remus was just meant to be his friend. Someone to blow off steam within various ways now. Sirius really want to blow off steam with Remus over and over and over again in bed. That didn’t mean he wanted to be in a relationship though.

“I’m not exactly ready to be in a relationship. It’s all complicated. Maybe one day.” Sirius said.

After a few more minutes of chatting, Sirius was back in his car and on his way to Rhode Island. He occupied his mind by singing along obnoxiously to all entire soundtrack of Hamilton like an idiot. He was trying his hardest not to think because he wanted wait to be able to be lost in thought in his room at the Potter’s or on the beach.

When he pulled past the gates and up the long drive of the old mansion, he could see Effie waiting anxiously on the steps. He knew that the woman who acted more like his mother than his birth mother would worry about him. Once he got out of the car, Effie gave him another hug that was going to bruise his ribs. Between her and Tonks, he was going to have to go to make sure nothing was broken.

“We’re so glad you decided to come down here, Sirius. It’s for the best. Take some time away from the limelight.” Effie put an arm around him and ushered him inside. Dobby, the man who helped out around the house, went to go retrieve Sirius’ things from his car.

“Thanks for letting me come down.”

“Letting you?” Monty’s voice boomed with a loud laugh as he came into the foyer to greet Sirius. “Son, you’re always welcomed here.”

“Thanks.” Sirius sighed.

“If you want, we can have dinner on the patio tonight. Then we’ll leave you alone to do whatever reflecting and thinking you want. Or you can bug us whenever you please.” Effie patted his shoulder.

“That sounds good.”

“We’ll make steaks.”

“Delicious.” Sirius nodded. “Awesome.”

Sirius went up to his room and fell right into his bed. He got his phone out to find a million notifications. He had blocked most numbers from his family and the media, but he was still getting so many notifications. The only person from his family that he didn’t block was Regulus. Sadly, he hadn’t heard a word from his brother since he left the community center.

As he was leaving, Regulus was asking him why he did it. It was as if he couldn’t fathom getting away. Reggie had insinuated how great it would be to leave so many times, but never did. No matter what, Regulus tried to be a good Black. He had messed up with the drugs, but worked hard to get straight. The only thing he didn’t change was sleeping with men. It didn’t stop his internalized homophobia though. Sirius used to cringe at the comments his brother used to make about himself. It was worse than hearing the shit that his mother would say.

 **S:**  
Hey  
I know what I did was dramatic  
But I’m me, right?  
Not that I know me at the moment.  
Anyway, please send me some sign  
that you’re alive and they didn’t  
I don't know, sacrifice you or  
something, Reggie.  
You can leave whenever you want.

After Sirius sent the last message the ellipsis popped up a few times. Regulus never actually sent anything through. Sirius put a hand over his face and started to cry. So, out of everything not hearing back from his brother was what did him in?


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus goes to Arizona, and then goes to Newport.

Two weeks after Sirius’ spectacular exit from the primary, Remus was in Arizona. Since he had the primary wrapped up, his team thought it might be a good idea for him to go down to meet the people who were protesting the “detention centers” (concentration camps) on the border. It aligned with his message, and with all honesty Remus would have been down there if he wasn’t running for office.

Of course, Remus wasn’t granted access to go into the camps because he was just someone off the street without any sort of Congressional backing yet. They didn’t care that he was running for office in Boston. Remus knew that getting in wasn’t going to happen before he got there, so he decided to speak with the people that were protesting. Some had been there every single day for the last year and a half. Others, it was their first time. Most had been there sporadically.

Remus listened to the stories about kids being taken from the parents. About the impossible inhumanity of how these people were being treated. The endless stories from people who had read every single article on the camps, and spoke with every member of Congress that had been allowed in, made Remus sick to his stomach. It wasn’t as if he didn’t know what was happening before. He had read about it plenty. Being in there made it feel real in a way that words on a paper or newsreels didn’t.

As he looked down on the camp that appeared more to be a tent city than anything, Remus thought of his grandparents. They had got to the US before the borders closed up to people like them. His abuela and abuelo wanted to be live a good life, just like these people who were locked up for nothing. Remus was completely speechless for what felt like the first time in a long time.

There was so much he wanted to say, but he didn’t know how to say it or where to start. In all honesty, he wasn’t sure how to start fixing these things if he got to Congress. He knew what he wanted to do, free all these people, but what about logistics? Was that something he needed to worry about? Was he really equipped enough to handle this all? Could he really face these problems and make changes?

All the talk, all the plans, it all felt completely useless to him suddenly. As he was whisked back to the hotel for a few hours of sleep, and then to the airport, Remus felt like he was in the wrong place. Maybe Sirius should have stayed on, maybe he would have been better dealing with this even with the Blacks.

> **RJLupin — 1 hr ago**  
>  _The people in these border camps are being held without due process. They aren’t even being given humane treatment. Riddle and his administration need to be held accountable NOW._
> 
> **RJLupin — 1 hr ago**  
>  _Those people in these camps could have been my grandparent or even myself if history was a little different._

As Remus sat waiting for his plane with Marlene and Hestia, he stared at his phone. He wanted to call his mom because he thought it would make him feel better. She would give him some little pep talk and boost his ego. Remus thought about talking to Hestia and Marlene about how he was feeling, but they would spout off random facts and do little consoling.

To his surprise, his phone rang and Sirius’ name popped up. Remus had not heard from Sirius in the two weeks since he disappeared. Remus knew why Sirius had dropped off the radar, but he was so curious to how the man was doing.

“Hey,” Remus stood up and walked away from his seat. Marlene and Hestia were asking who it was but he ignored them. He didn’t feel like dealing with this looks, so he went off time find a decent place to sit.

“Remus, are you all right? I just saw your tweets about being at the border.” Sirius sounded concerned about Remus. It was sort of sweet.

“Oh, ah, I’m okay.”

Sirius made a noise as if he didn’t believe it but said nothing for a moment. “I’m sure it affects you personally. I know that your grandparents came here after all.”

“Yeah, yeah, it does. I wish I could make it less personal.” Remus said, taking a seat in a corner by a window. There weren’t many people there, so he figured it was the best place to sit. “It feels stupid to be this upset.”

“It’s not, it’s upsetting, Remus. You can be upset over this and it can be personal. Everyone should be fucking upset over this.” Sirius raised his voice when he got to the last sentence.

“I — I just feel like I might not be good enough to take this on.”

“Nope! No, Remus you’re brilliant. If I didn’t have any faith in you, I wouldn’t have dropped out. I would have pressed on because I thought you were an idiot and I was better off there no matter what. You got this, you know you got this. Don’t doubt yourself now.”

“All right, all right.” Remus put a hand over his face. “I don’t know what I’m going to do to fix it.”

“It’s a big problem, that’s why there are multiple people you work with and that’s why you’re going to work with people in Congress who have the same beliefs as you.” Sirius said calmly. “You’re so smart, Remus. Believe me, I wouldn’t have slept with you if I thought you were stupid.”

Remus laughed and rubbed his eyes. “That’s good to hear, I guess.”

“There’s a John Waters quote about not sleeping with people who don’t read. I feel like I also read an article about it once.”

“That’s silly, but I like it.”

“I know. I’ll see if I can find the article for you.”

Remus chuckled. “So, ah, now that I’m not in full meltdown mode. How are you? Haven’t heard from you in a fortnight.”

“Really? A fortnight?”

“I don’t get to use the term enough. I had the chance and I took it.” Remus smiled and looked out the window on to the runway where a Jet Blue plane was taxing.

“Breaking out the sexy vocabulary. Hot. I like it.”

“I try.” Remus sighed and leaned his head back against the wall. “So, what’s life post-Black like?”

“Quiet, a little tiny bit boring if I’m being honest. I still have no idea what to do with my life.”

“Eh, it’s only been two weeks, right? You can’t be made to figure out what you are in that short of a time.”

“Right.” Sirius agreed with him. “I was wondering if you and some of your friends or some of the team would like to come down to Newport for a day or two.”

Remus furrowed his brow, surprised at the ask. “Oh?”

“The Potters are off to Europe, and James and Lily are coming down as well. I know that the trail can be tiring, and since your primary is overall but legally, I thought maybe it’d be nice. A day on the beach with some friends is always good for the soul.”

“On a private beach near a mansion.”

“Yes. Invite your main team, I know you’re all close. Marlene too, obviously. I’ll see if Tonks wants to come down, you’ll like her.”

“Sounds like fun. When?”

“This weekend? Friday to Sunday? Then you can jump right into the campaign refreshed and relaxed.

“Yeah, I think we can do that.”

They talked a little longer before Remus went back to his seat. He lied and said it was his mom he had spoke with because he didn’t want to hear it at the moment. Remus also waited until the next day to invite everyone to Newport on behalf of Sirus. Of course they all thought it was a great idea because they were dying for a beach day. They hadn’t had one all summer, even their 4th of July was filled with campaign work.

“When you and Sirius have sex tonight, can you not be super loud? I’d love for some quiet.” Fleur said as she drove her, Remus, Marlene, Hestia, and Bill. Charlie, Frank, Alice, Dorcas, and Peter were coming in another car. Sirius also said that James, Lily, and Tonks were going to be around as well. Remus wondered if there was enough space, and Sirius laughed and said course.

“Fuck off. Not happening.” Remus said as they drove up the long driveway. In front of them was a large mansion that looked like a place someone with a lot of money would summer. “We are friends, and this is a friendly weekend. Though, I’m sure Marlene and Dorcas will be rawing each other in the room that they have to share.”

Marlene gave him a nice whack to the side of the head that he most likely deserved as Fleur parked the car next to Franks’ car. The moment they all got out, Sirius appeared in the doorway with a man that Remus knew was James Potter. He had seen photos of Monty Potter before, and this guy was basically a spitting image of his father.

“Everyone else is already out at the pool.” Sirius laughed before giving Marlene a hug. “This is my best friend James.”

“Hi James, I’m Remus. This is Fleur, Hestia, Bill, and Marlene.”

“Nice meet you all! Come on.”

As they grabbed their things, Remus noticed how tanned and relaxed the Sirius appeared. He hoped that the time away was helping Sirius clear his mind and get back to being himself. Surely, the other man had a lot of work to do, but he seemed to have a decent enough support system to do it.

***

What Sirius _really_ wanted was Remus all alone in the big house for the weekend. He wanted to have him in every room, on every single freaking surface and in the pool and on the beach. Sirius was sure this interest in Remus was just proximity. He was the only man interested in men that Sirius knew that he didn’t have to go out and try to flirt with. Remus was right there and willing to be flirted at.

Of course Remus was smart, funny, and good looking. It wasn’t as if Sirius was settling for something that was just fine. That helped — a lot. He was good in bed too, and they had this great sort of chemistry Sirius never felt with anyone else before. Though, Sirius did not want anything to do with a relationship other than friendly for the time being.

Right now, Sirius also loved how he felt around his friends as well Remus. Inviting them all over was a bit of a ruse because he felt like inviting just Remus was weird. They weren’t dating, and having a weekend in a nice house like that really was romantic. Fleur was really hitting it off with Tonks as well. It was sort of adorable to watch the two women flirt because Tonks was horrendous at it.

“Mmm, sun.” Remus was laying on his stomach on the beach. Most of their friends were in the water. Some of them were playing soccer. Sirius was watching them all, and Remus was enjoying a moment of quiet of relaxation.

“Sun,” Sirius sighed, looking at Remus’ freckles again.

Remus looked at Sirius through his lashed with a slight smile, “What are you staring at, Black?”

“Your freckles.” Sirius spoke in his low voice because he didn’t want any of their friends to hear. He was trying his best to keep the others thinking that their sleeping together was a one time deal. He wasn’t even sure if there was going to be a second time, even though Remus had said he give him a blowjob. God, he hoped there was going to be a second time.

“My freckles.” He smirked, closing his eyes again. “Why are my freckles so intriguing? Is it because I do not have the pure alabaster skin of you? I think it’s mostly the Irish genes of my lovely father that gave me the freckles.”

“Your father sucks, but I like the freckles.” Sirius bit his lip.

“You _licked_ my freckles when we slept together.” Remus’ voice dropped even lower.

Sirius flushed and pushed his sunglasses up his nose.

“I didn’t realize it was a kink.”

“I don’t think it’s a kink. I think — I don’t know, I just like them on you.” Sirius shook his head, watching Marlene kick the ball right by James, who was playing goalie. She celebrated dramatically by picking Dorcas up.

“Clever, putting my room across the hall from yours.” Remus said, eyes still closed. “Trying to lick my freckles again.”

“Yeah, yeah, like you’re not trying to give me more hickeys.” Sirius dug his feet into the sand.

“Maybe. Maybe I’m just trying to give you that blowjob.”

That maybe found it’s way to Sirius’ room with Remus on his knees in front of Sirius hours later when everyone finally went to sleep. They both stayed fairly sober, probably thinking ahead to what they both really wanted. Sirius made good on licking Remus’ freckles, but Sirius had yet to get a hickey. Not that he cared much because Remus’ tongue was doing something amazing to the tip of his cock.

“Oh, god,” Sirius threaded his fingers through Remus’ curls

Remus hummed around Sirius after taking him fully into his hot mouth. Closing his eyes, Sirius gave himself over to the pleasure. Why was Remus so good at everything? It was unfair to the rest of the world, and Sirius felt like he would never be able to find someone as funny, smart, and so good in bed. Really, everyone else was going to have some high standards to live up to.

After he came down Remus’ throat, he returned the favor to the other man. Worshipping the man’s wonderful thick, long cock the best he could. It didn’t take very long to get Remus off. Watching Remus come undone was even better. He was normally so measured, and aware of what he was and how he was portraying himself. When he came, nothing else really mattered.

Instead of feeling sleepy, Sirius was wide awake and not ready to go to sleep. He sat up in bed and looked over at Remus who had his eyes closed. “Do you want to go out to the beach?”

“Mmm? Sure?” Remus yawned, rubbing his eyes.

“I mean, you can sleep if you want.” Sirius said quickly, hoping that Remus didn’t feel obligated to come with him. He would have been perfectly happy going down to the beach by himself, but he didn’t want Remus to wonder why Sirius left him in the bed alone.

“No, that sounds — nice.” Remus sat up.

One of Sirius’ favorite things was the ocean at night. He and Regulus would sneak out when they were younger and go down to the water. Then when they were a little older, they’d meet other people and get up to regular teenage hijinks on the beach. The beach was where Sirius had his first kiss with the boy who summered in the house down the way from the Black’s. He was sweet but the kiss wasn’t great. Not many first kisses are good, Sirius figured.

The beach at night was where Sirius felt the most grounded, yet the most alone. Lately, he had been on the beach every night by himself thinking about his life. There wasn’t much Sirius could cobble together to build things up. It was really impossible to build because he didn’t know what he wanted outside of happiness. He didn’t want to be like his parents nor did he want to be like Ted and Andi or even Al and Richard. Sirius certainly didn’t want to be Tonks or Regulus. Nor did he want to be Remus or anyone else.

So, who was he?

“Have you, ah, talked to your brother yet?” Remus ventured to asked after they sat in the cool sand.

Remus was beautiful in the light of the full moon. It was driving Sirius crazy that he couldn’t stop thinking about the other man that way. He just wanted to get on with his life. He really didn’t need interest in Remus on top of everything. Sirius definitely didn’t need it on top of wondering what was going on with the only thing from his family Sirius cared about.

“No.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I don’t know if he’s okay or not either. I did this all without even thinking about it. I didn’t even ask him.” Sirius shook his head. “I was afraid he’d talk me out of it.”

“He wants to stay with them?”

Sirius shrugged. “Not really. I don’t know. It’s all complicated. He’s ah, he’s gay too.”

Remus laughed then shook his head. “I’m sorry. I just… It’s that Hestia and I thought it’d be hilarious if both of you were gay.”

“Mother really might drop dead.” Sirius let out a long sigh. “But Reggie’s got far more internal hatred than I do, at least it seemed that way most of the time.”

“I’m sorry.” Remus took Sirius’ hand, locking their fingers together.

“It’s not your fault.”

“I mean, kind of is.” Remus scoffed.

“It was inevitable that I did that eventually. If I didn’t then I wasn’t really who I think I am.”

“I hope you can be yourself more. I like who you show me, and who you showed the rest of the world with that speech.”

Sirius smiled because it seemed like the sweetest thing that anyone had every said to him. Remus also had no motive to say it. It was just something nice that Remus wanted to say to him. “Are you doing okay?”

“Every so often I go into this panic because I think it’s actually feeling real now, you know? Like now that you’re gone people are saying I’m going to go to Washington. I still have to beat Lockhart, but, I don’t know.” Remus disclosed to him.

“You’re really going to be okay. I promise.” Sirius squeezed Remus’ hand. “I meant it, I wouldn’t have dropped out if I didn’t think you weren’t totally capable.”

“I think you’re going to have to tell me that every day until I believe it.”

“I’ll set a reminder to text you the line every single morning so you see it before your run.” Sirius chuckled, but he actually meant it. Remus needed to believe that he was going to be able to conquer it.

“Thanks. I miss you on the morning runs, you know? Having no one to race with is kind of boring. I have to race myself, which makes me feel like a loser no matter what.”

“You could ask Lockhart.” Sirius let out a deep laugh, which Remus joined in on.

“Nah, I’m good. I would rather be alone than be with Lockhart. He’s a plastic asshole. I can’t stand the man.”

“I thought that you thought I was a plastic asshole before.”

“He’s different. More plastic. He’s even more fake.” Remus shrugged. “I highly doubt there’s much to him under his veneer.”

“Maybe he’ll come out and ruin his family’s legacy.”

“No, he’s doesn’t have that special something you have. Unless he vaguely confesses stuff to me before our debate.” Remus scrunched up his nose.

“You won’t be sleeping with him secretly?”

“God no.” Remus scoffed. “Zero interest there. I always thought you were hot if not empty headed.”

“Thanks!” Sirius laughed, resting his head on Remus’ shoulder.

“I’m glad you’re not empty headed.”

“Yeah, I’m glad I'm not either.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus has another debate and sees Sirius.

> _Lockhart — 45%_   
>  _Lupin — 53%_   
>  _Undecided — 8%_

Remus breezed through the primary without a hiccup. No one was expecting anything else to happen, it’s not as if he had any opponents in that race. When he won, the team and his family had a party to celebrate. It was very low key because it wasn’t as if he had to beat anyone. After the party Remus went over to Sirius’ apartment in Cambridge and went at it three different times (on the chaise lounger in the living room overlooking the river, in Sirius’ bed, and in the shower). He spent the night, then went right back to work the next morning.

Once he left, he didn’t hear from Sirius outside of his “You’re smart and capable. You’re enough. You’re going to kick ass in Congress” texts every single morning. Remus wasn’t sure if Sirius was still in the city or not. Either way he was happy enough to get those daily messages. It was like a mantra, one that Remus needed very much since his fight against Lockhart was ramping up.

Gilderoy Lockhart was really playing into the center, trying to grab more people with it. Remus was sick at the idea that he could turn the district red for the first time in… well, ever probably. At least since the parties shifted back in — okay, not a time for a history lesson at the moment. The issue was that Remus was scared the man was going to end up winning over him. If that happened Remus was going to be the laughing stock of his party.

“May I quote Eleanor Roosevelt?” Hestia questions the group, arms crossed and eyes squinted and thought.

“Why not.” Remus furrowed his brow wondering what she was going to say. “I don’t mind a good Eleanor quote every now and again.”

“Sometimes I wonder if we shall ever grow up in our politics and say definite things which mean something.” Hestia sighed, reading about Lockhart’s latest event. “What I’m trying to say through that quote is everything Lockhart says is inconsequential bullshit.”

“I’m sure Eleanor also said that last part about some people too.” Marlene nodded in a knowing way. “This shit he’s saying, the way he’s saying it, it has Black written all over it. This is the same drivel that we heard with Sirius.”

Remus raised an eyebrow, “Really?”

“Yeah, the way he talks, I don’t know. Plus, isn’t it weird he came on the scene right about the time that Sirius started to flounder? Then he really blew up after Sirius dropped out.” Marlene tapped her pen to her lip. “Have you heard from Sirius lately?”

“What’s Sirius got to do with anything right now?” Remus questioned. His mind was trying to put together the conspiracy theory that Marlene was spouting.

“I want to know if he thinks I’m crazy for seeing this. So, when was the last time you got into his pants? I haven’t heard a peep since Newport.”

Remus rolled his eyes, “The last time I saw him was when we were in Newport at the end of August, just like you all.”

“You’re a really shitty liar. We need to improve on your poker face before we go to Congress. You’re never going to make any deals.” Hestia suggested and Dorcas snorted a laugh.

“I saw him the night of the primary after the party.” Remus confessed. “I haven’t heard from him since. I don’t know what he’s up to right now.”

Marlene frowned, “Hmm, okay. Well, we’re going to treat it like the Blacks are after us. If we do that, then it’s going to work well I think even if it’s not them.” Marlene let out a sigh. “If we attack it this way, then all of our bases are covered. Remus, would you mind texting Sirius and asking him to call me?”

“I’ll try, but I’m not sure it will work.” Remus shrugged a shoulder then looked at his phone.

“Trouble in paradise?” Dorcas looked up from her computer with a frown.

“No, there is no paradise. We’re just existing in the same area of the world.”

“Whilst having as much sex as possible?” Hestia raised an eyebrow.

“This is a workplace, you know? I think there are laws and shit against talking like this.” Remus snorted a laughed as he clicked on to an email of statements that Frank had sent him.

“When you’re sleeping with the enemy, it’s hard to keep it out of the office.”

“He’s no longer the enemy, Charlie.” Remus reminded his friends. Sirius wasn’t even the enemy to begin with. “Can we get on to talk about the upcoming debate I’m going to have with Lockhart? We’re going to need to prepare a lot if I’m such a shitty liar.”

“Well, it’s okay because you’re not going to have to lie since we don’t need to. You’re going out there and putting platform first. The lying will come in Congress.”

Remus laughed. At least he got to stick with what he knew best right now. He knew he had what he needed, but he still felt like he wasn’t prepared at all.

> **RJLupin — 12 hrs ago**   
>  _**@GilderoyLockhart** has not said much of substance since joining the race. I hope we can get a straight answer about what he thinks about the President’s most recent thoughts on pulling out of NATO tomorrow night._

Remus was surprised to see Sirius walking towards him as he stretched out on the community path before his morning run. It was the day of the debate, and he needed to do as much as he possibly could to take his mind off of facing Lockhart. The stress was making him sick to his stomach.

“You’re here.”

“I’m here. I thought you might want some company this morning.” Sirius pulled his hat a little further down over his eyes. “Why is it so fucking hot? Make sure you bring up climate change today. I’m ready for fall. This muggy heat is ridiculous.”

“Agreed.” Remus said as he put his earbuds into his pocket and Sirius stretched. “Where’ve you been?”

“I went back down to Newport after the election. I’m trying to find myself and it’s currently nowhere that I am looking.” Sirius shrugged. “My parents drained my bank account of their money, so I’m not sure how I’m going to pay rent, I may have to move in with the Potter’s.”

Remus hadn’t even thought about the part of everything. All of Sirius’ money must have come from his parents. No wonder why it took so long for Sirius to untangle himself.

“I did get an offer to work a law firm. I think that it’s Monty’s doing. I might take it, just so I can make some money.” Sirius sighed. “Though, I’m sure the Potter’s will also make sure my bills are paid.”

“It’s good you have them.” Remus said as they started to run. “Worse comes to worse you can sleep in the basement of Pete’s parents' bar.”

Sirius laughed, “Thanks for the offer. I’ll be okay, I’ll figure it out eventually. Hopefully.”

“You will.” Remus said in a confident tone. “Aside from what I’m assuming is overwhelming existential dread, you’re doing okay?”

“Oh, fine.” Sirius scoffed. “Can we talk about something other than me, please?”

“I’m not totally going to get it off the topic of you because I need to ask if you got my message about contacting Marlene? She’d murder me if I didn’t ask you.”

“I did, yeah. I called her last night. She’s been a pain in my ass. A pain in the ass that’s probably right.”

“Really? You think Lockhart is in the Black’s pocket?”

“Too many coincidences for it not to be true to me. If it walks like a duck, you know what I mean.” Sirius said as they picked up the pace. “I’m sorry my family is still trying to derail you even though I’m not in it anymore.”

“It’s not your fault. You don’t have to apologize for people that you’re not speaking with right now.”

“Mmm.” Sirius nodded but didn’t seem like he believed it. “Oh, I made an appointment with Poppy.”

“Good! You’ll love her.”

“Is it strange I’m anxious to go?”

“Not at all.” Remus shook his head. “Opening up to a stranger is hard, even if you’re paying them to listen to you.”

“Especially after I’ve been so closed off for most of my life.”

“Yeah, I’m sure it’s even worse then.”

After a few minutes of running quietly, Sirius broke the silence. “What are you going to be doing after you get out of the debate?”

“We’ll probably go for drinks, but after that I was just going to go home.” Remus said, knowing exactly what Sirius was going for. He probably should have called himself out for being so excited about it.

“Do you want to come over my place after? You’re going to be doing the debate in Cambridge anyway.” Sirius tried his best to sound like he had no expectations. He was being cool, even though he probably didn’t feel very cool while asking.

“Sure, I’ll come. Do you want to join us for drinks after the debate?” Remus asked because he wasn’t sure if he should outright ask Sirius if he wanted to have sex later that night.

“No, it’s probably best if I stay away from you out in public. This is risky enough, huh? I don’t want to give anyone any bait on you.”

“True.” Remus looked at his Apple Watch to check his heart rate. “I’ll text you after I have enough celebratory drinks. I’m sure that everyone will catch on to where I’m going because I don’t work with idiots.”

“They are pretty smart, thank god. Well, they’ll all be jealous you’re getting laid.”

Remus laughed then remembered something fairly important. “Hey, guess who your cousin is dating.”

“Tonks?”

“Yeah. I don’t know your other cousins.”

“Who?”

“Fleur!”

Sirius let out a loud laugh, “You’re fucking kidding me.”

“Nope. Fleur posted a picture of something on her Instagram yesterday and Tonks’ bright blue hair was in the background. I asked her about it and she owned up.” Remus thought it was great. They had flirted their whole weekend in Newport.

“I’m happy for them then.” Sirius said, picking their pace up a little more. “It seems like our campaigns were great for matchmaking, Remus. First Marlene and Dorcas, now Fleur and Tonks.”

“Yeah, seems so.” Remus couldn’t help but agree with it.

***

 **S:**  
I miss you.  
I hope you’re okay.  
Reggie, please call me.  
I don’t know what’s going on   
at home but I can make some  
guesses. You’re smarter than   
this. You don’t have to stay.

Sirius sighed after hitting send on the last message as Tonks came around the corner in the stacks. Her hair was as bright a blue now as Remus has suggested earlier. She was walking with the air of someone who was in a new shiny relationship with a pretty blond French-Canadian. Sirius enjoyed the fact that another descendant of the Black family was gay.

“You’re going out with Fleur?

Tonks blushed and gave a nod. “I am, yes. Where’d you hear that? You must have talked to Remus.”

“Yes.” Sirius said as Tonks took a seat next to Sirus. “I went for a run with him this morning. I figured he was panicking over the debate tonight.”

“And then he brought you over his apartment and gave it to you good.” Tonks snorted.

“No! Gross, you are my cousin. Don’t say that.” Sirius nudged her with his shoulder. “And no, we didn’t go back to his place. I just want to offer him some support.”

“When are you going to come to the conclusion that you’re dating Remus?”

“We’re not dating. We barely have even seen one another.” Sirus rolled his eyes.

“But you like him and want to date him, right?”

If Sirius was being honest with himself, he’d admit his feelings were more than platonic for Remus. There were far too many changes that were happening right now for him to admit to these feelings. Sirius didn’t know what he was doing with his life. He was going to have to borrow money from Monty and Effie in order to pay his bills. Sirius was completely pathless. There was nothing pulling at him at the moment. He even turned down the job to work in a decent law office.

“I can’t date him right now.”

“I don’t want you to lose him, you know? He’s a good guy and just because this is some Romeo and Juliet shit is annoying, I don’t want it to fall apart.”

“I really don’t see Remus and I killing ourselves to be together.” Sirius chuckled. “We’re both a bit more sensible than that, I think.”

“I don’t know about that. You’re both looking kind of stupid right now.” Tonks shrugged a shoulder. “You slept with him once then invited him for a romantic weekend in Newport.”

“It wasn’t a romantic weekend. There were like fourteen of us there.” Sirius complained. That didn’t mean that Sirius didn’t want it to be just Sirius and Remus there because he really did. Oh, fuck, he was so screwed.

“Fleur says she saw a text from you the other day on his phone that was sweet. Something about him being enough.”

“She was spying?” Sirius said in mock indignation.

“Sirius, I’m being well, serious. Don’t you dare make a joke. Don’t throw this away, okay?”

“I’m not throwing anything away. Tonks, do you realize the big gigantic life change I just made? I left my family. Yeah, they treated me like shit my whole fucking life, but it’s still my family and it feels like shit. I’m jobless with zero dollars in my bank account. Not to mention the fact that I haven’t heard from my brother once. I can’t date Remus.”

“You’re adorable when you’re being an idiot. No wonder why he likes you.” Tonks patted his arm. “If you want him, does it matter if your life is in shambles. If Remus doesn’t care, then what’s the big deal?”

“The big deal is, I don’t want to ruin his chances in this race.” Sirius closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “They’re helping Lockhart, I can feel it.”

“You’re fucking kidding me.” Tonks eyes widened. “That’s insane.”

“Yeah, well, your mother’s side of the family is insane. They’re pushing their own agenda. They don’t care about the country, only what they’re benefitting from it.”

“I’m so glad you’ve got a brain on you, Sirius.”

“Me too.”

“Reggie—”

“He’s got a brain, but it’s just taking him a while to get here for some reason.” Sirius felt like he wanted to cry each time he talked about Regulus. He really needed to talk to Poppy about this because it probably wasn’t a good thing that he felt that way.

“Regulus will come around.”

“He will, god, I hope so.” Sirius took a deep breath.

> **@SiriusBlack**  
>  Coming out of my cave to ask: would you rather a man who speaks a lot and says nothing or a man who speaks just enough and says everything? That’s your choice. Pick well. **#VoteLupin #VanceFenwick2020**

“Ah, fuck,” Remus held on for leverage on Sirius’ headboard as he fucked himself on Sirius.

About two hours after Remus finished with the debate, Sirius got a text from him asking if he was still awake and if Sirius wanted him to come over. Sirius didn’t want to tell the other man that he had been impatiently waiting since the debate finished. Well, actually, probably since he got back from his uncle’s store earlier in the afternoon.

He was desperate, wasn’t he? Sirius’ life was revolving around having sex with the future Congressman for his district. He really did need a job NOW. No, not now because he was too busy watching and feeling Remus come undone. Sirius was so preoccupied with watching Remus, the start of his own climax took him by surprise.

They both came nearly at the same time. Remus slumped against Sirius, and rested his forehead on Sirius’ shoulder, panting. Sirius lightly ran his fingers up and down Remus’ back for a moment.

“You kicked ass at the debate. Not nearly wipe the floor with him kick ass like you did to me, but it was good. Solid showing. You won for sure.”

“You’re still inside me.” Remus let out a sharp laugh before changing that statement. He rolled on to the bed and looked at Sirius expectantly. “Okay, now you may talk politics. Also, who talks about a debate right after sex? Was it not good?”

“No! No, it was amazing.” Sirius said quickly, taking the condom off at the same time. “I wanted to tell you. You walked in the door and we didn’t speak to one another. Not that I’m complaining about that.”

Remus was watching him with a fond expression that made Sirius’ heart do something funny. “You’re something else, you know?”

“Is that a good or a bad thing?”

“Very good.” Remus leaned forward and kissed him slowly, lingering for a moment. “So, the debate.”

“You want to hear more about it? Ha, making fun of me.” Sirius ran a hand through his curls.

“I was only making fun of the fact that your cock was still inside of my body when you brought it up. That’s some after sex pillow talk if I heard any.” Remus rolled his eyes before kissing him once more and sitting back.

“Right, you did amazing. Lockhart really is saying a lot of the same stuff I was just in different ways.”

“Yeah and I’m worried people who like that banal crap are going to like what he’s saying.” Remus shook his head. “Listening to Lockhart was a bit too much like listening to you pre-violent detachment.”

“Glad that term caught on.” Sirius shook his head.

“I think I’m the only one still using it.”

“The man says he doesn’t support Riddle but he talks like someone who has a lot in common with Riddle.” Sirius went back to the subject of Lockhart. “Much like my parents.”

“I know.” Remus scrubbed a hand through his hair. “How do we stop him?”

“The same way you stopped me. Be yourself, Remus. Even if I fought back, you would have taken me down.” Sirius suggested then yawned. “I need to take my contacts out.”

“Oh, can I please see you in your glasses this time?”

The last time Remus had come over, Sirius didn’t take his contacts out until after the other man was asleep then ended up waking up before Remus. When they were in Newport, Sirius and Remus didn’t sleep in the same room because they didn’t want to hear anything shit, so Sirius also managed to get his contacts in before seeing Remus. The future Congressman did really love his rest. “Ugh, I guess. Do you like tea? I’m going to make a cup, herbal so I can fall asleep.”

“Sure.” Remus grinned. “I can make it if you want while you’re doing your glasses.”

“You’re really determined to see me look like an idiot.”

“Well, yeah.” Remus laughed then got out of bed. “I just doubt the glasses will make you look like one.”

Sirius pulled on his briefs then went to the bathroom to get ready for bed. That included taking his contacts out and putting his glasses on. Begrudgingly, he went out to the kitchen where Remus was in borrowed joggers staring at the tea kettle as he waited for it to boil. When he turned to look at Sirius, his face lit up when he looked at Sirius in his glasses.

“How can you not like these?” Remus pouted placing a hand on Sirius’ cheek, rubbing his thumb across Sirius’ cheekbone lightly. “I love them.”

“You just have some weird sexy librarian nerd fantasy, don’t you?”

“Maybe.” Remus kissed him, backing Sirius against the refrigerator, his hand still on his cheek.

Sirius laughed softly as Remus’ lips ghosted over his. “Weirdo.” He practically whispered.

“Oh, you have no idea.” Remus said then went back to kissing Sirius. He slid his tongue into Sirius’ mouth and ran a hand down Sirius’ chest.

Just as things were getting good, the stupid kettle whistled.


	11. Chapter 11

> _Lockhart — 45%_   
>  _Lupin — 53%_   
>  _Undecided — 2%_

“Investing in public education is important for this country. We need to make public colleges and trade school free for every student looking to further their education.” Remus declared and a clap went up through the teachers union he was speaking in front of.

“I know that I’m preaching to the choir when in here when I talk about all this stuff. You’re all professionals and understand the importance of investing in schools and public colleges. You’re not really the ones I have to convince about this stuff.” A laugh went through the room.

Remus wondered if people laughed when Gilderoy Lockhart made little quips. Probably. People loved him for some reason. The fact that a Republican was doing so well in the district, was distressing. It shouldn’t have been this close, at least that was what Remus and the media thought. It was all thanks to the Blacks, at least that’s what his camp decided.

The fact that no one was catching on to the fact that Lockhart sounded like a Black, was mind blowing. Then again there were plenty of politicians who said empty things in the world. Lockhart was just one of many. It was a cycle Remus, and others, we’re trying to break. Remus knew he connected with people. They saw him and heard him because he saw them and heard them. He had to hope he was doing all he could to win.

Sirius was still sending him the same message every morning reminding him he was enough. Remus needed that more than he wanted to admit to most people in his life. The other man seemed to understand that Remus did and didn’t ask many questions about it. Sirius never pushed him to talk about how he was feeling, but left it open for Remus to bring it up. Remus was able to text Sirus when he was freaking out about what he was doing. Talking with Sirius was easy, and he liked to it nearly every single day.

Yes, they were messaging one another more than just Sirius’ morning mantra. They were all friendly messages, and nothing more. It was the same things he would send to any of his friends. Except Remus was feeling those more than platonic feelings for Sirius. He wished that he didn’t because of where they both were in their lives at the moment. It was far too complicated to date Sirius right now.

When Remus finished up his speech, he stayed around to chat with the teachers. The union had endorsed him already, which was a very good thing. He did have far more endorsements like that than Lockhart. That should say a lot to how he was doing, but when he looked at the polling numbers did not make Remus feel an ounce of comfort. There should have been a bigger gap than 8 points and the 2 undecided on top of the margin of error as well. In reality it was only five points that separated him and Lockhart.

Trying his best not to think about how he was potentially fucking things up with his political career before it even started, Remus chatted with the teachers pleasantly. He always felt good when he was talking to others about what he was working for. It would have felt even better if he had a bit more separation in the polls.

“Great job,” Marlene said as they were walking out of the school. “You’re really good at this stuff.”

“Thanks, I’m kind of trying to make it my full-time job.” Remus snorted as they got to his car. “I have dinner with my mom tonight. Do you guys need me for anything else?”

“Nope.” Marlene grinned. “Less than a month and a half, Remus, you got this.”

“I hope so.” Remus took a deep breath. “See you later.”

Hope Lupin made sure Remus came home for dinner at least once a week. He wasn’t sure what she was going to do if he did make it to Washington. Remus hadn’t floated that idea to her yet because he didn’t want to jinx himself. It was bad enough that he was having those thoughts. If he did happen, he’d miss his mom’s cooking. Maybe he could get her to move down there with him.

“Mom, ah, what would you say if I told you I fairly sure that I might like someone?” He asked as they finished their dinner. Remus was dying to talk to someone about it, and he knew that he mother was the safest person to talk to. Everyone else would gloat too much, and tell him that they knew all along.

“Right now? Remus, you’re in the middle of a campaign. I’m not sure it’s the best choice.” She shook her head. “But, if you like this person, you like them.”

“My feelings exactly, and the person who I’m interested in makes it even more complicated.”

“Is it an intern?” She leaned on the table, giving Remus a critical look.

“Why does everyone think I have a thing for an intern? That’s so damn cliché.” Remus laughed and rolled his eyes. “No, mom, it’s not an intern. Jesus.”

“Then why is it complicated?”

“It’s Sirius Black. We’ve… seen each other a couple of times and we’re always talking.” Remus figured that it was the best way to go about saying what their relationship was instead of saying that they had some great sex a few times without embarrassing himself and scandalizing his mother.

Hope’s mouth formed a little ‘o’ but nothing came out for a moment a she processed it. It was surprising. He could only guess what the public would think about it. “Remus.”

“I know.”

“He — wow… I thought he sounded kind of in love with you in that speech. Not to mention he has tweeted about you a few times.”

“Why do I have to have feelings for him? This is so ridiculous.”

“If you have feelings for him, there has to be a reason. He must be a nice guy. You’ve never fallen for anyone who was terrible before. I understand why you wouldn’t want to date him even though he’s fallen from the Black’s clutches. It’s probably incredibly complicated.” Remus’ mother took a sip of her wine. “Have you two talked about it?”

Remus laughed and felt himself blush. “No, we haven’t. We’re — we’re just being friendly.”

“You should talk to him about it, Remus. If you’re having these feelings, who’s to say he isn’t. You could probably figure something out.”

“Do you know what would happen if it came out that Sirius and I were seeing one another? The media would explore. Social media would probably break. I’d be the Kim Kardashian of politics. Who knows what the Blacks would say about me. Maybe they’d come up with some story that I influenced him and brought the campaign down or something.” Remus shook his head. “It’d be a lie of course, but who knows what people would believe.”

“Well, Remus, whatever you do or whatever happens, I’m here. You have a hell of a lot of people who are behind you and support you. I’d love to have Sirius over one day. Has he ever been to Roxbury?” She raised an eyebrow than laughed.

After finishing dinner with his mother, Remus went back to his apartment in Somerville. To his surprise, Mary, Dorcas, Alice, and Frank were all there including Peter. They were finishing up their own dinner in the kitchen with the TV on in the background. “No Marlene?”

“She’s working late. She’s obsessed with this whole Lockhart being a Black puppet thing. I mean, she’s probably right but it doesn’t matter right now.” Dorcas explained to him.

Remus agreed as he went to get a beer from the fridge.

“How’s Hope?” Mary asked him.

“Fine.” He went to go sit on the sofa in the living room and changed the channel to check the local news. “Shit.” He said as the breaking news report came up.

“What is it?” Mary said, coming to sit next to him. “Oh my god.”

“Guys, you can’t just say ‘shit’ and ‘oh my god’ and not explain what is — oh no, you need to call Sirius.” Dorcas said as she saw the TV and the line declaring that Orion Black had died.

“Oh, that poor guy.” Alice frowned. “Call him, Moony, you can’t just—”

“I know, I am.” Remus stood up and went to his room, already reaching for his phone. By the time he got to his room, he was calling Sirius.

“You heard?” Sirius sighed.

“Are you okay?” Remus questioned him quietly, not sure what else to say.

“I’m not sure.”

“Do you want to be alone right now?”

“Are you asking me if you should come over?”

“Maybe.” Remus paced in the space in front of the bed.

“You’d come over?” Sirius sounded surprised.

“We’re friends, of course I’d come over, Sirius.”

The line went quiet for a while. It sounded like Sirius was drinking something, probably the whiskey he favored. Remus was sure this situation called for whiskey. “Yeah, please, please come over if you can. If you want.”

“I can, I’m not doing anything right now. I’ll bring my stuff so I don’t have to worry about changing.”

“We’ll run in the morning.” Sirius said as if that was what was of importance.

“I’ll be over in a little while.” Remus assured him. “Do you need anything? Food? Drinks?”

“No, I’m okay with that stuff. Just bring yourself.”

***

> **BostonGlobe — 1 hr ago**   
>  _The patriarch of the now embattled Black family has died at the age of 68._
> 
> **RachelRoth — 1 hr ago**   
>  _Damn, wonder how Sirius Black is feeling. Thought his mom was going to be the one to drop dead._
> 
> **DNC — 1 hr ago**   
>  _Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Black Family. The world has lost a giant._
> 
> **KenDriscoll — 1 hr ago**   
>  _A few weeks ago we were vilifying the Blacks. Now Orion dies and we suddenly forget how the manipulated not only their son, but the voters?_

When Sirius heard the news that his father died, he wasn’t sure what to feel. He was sure he should have felt sad because it was his father. Maybe with how Sirius’ father treated him, relieved? The only thing he was feeling was concerned for Regulus, who still wasn’t answering Sirius’ texts. All Sirius wanted was to check in with his brother. They were always there for one another when things were bad, now they couldn’t even text.

“Are you sure you want this right now?” Remus pulled back from kissing Sirius, his hand still up Sirius’ shirt and resting on his back.

The man had come over without much of a thought right after he heard the news. Sirius thought he could occupy his brain by climbing into Remus’ lap right after he sat down and pressing his lips to Remus’. It didn’t do anything at all. He didn’t even get the same butterflies he usually did when Remus was touching him.

“Yeah, I do. I think..”

“It’s just… you don’t seem really into it, Sirius. I don’t want to do something you don’t want to do.” Remus’ fingers drew a soft pattern on to his skin.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry.” Remus shook his head and then kissed his cheek. “I didn’t come here to sleep with you. I came here because you’re my friend and I assumed you were feeling down about this. I didn’t come to fuck you.”

“You’re piece of work.” Sirius declared, not moving from Remus’ lap. Instead of leaned into Remus’ body and let himself be wrapped in Remus’ arms.

“Because I came to you apartment and didn’t come over to have sad sex with you?”

“Sad sex.” Sirius nuzzled Remus neck. “It should be celebratory.”

“Mmm, should be? Why? Who says?”

“Me. He treated me like shit.”

“Still you father. Last time my father got arrested and my mom told me I sank into a depression bubble for a good week. I don’t even really remember the man. I’ve had zero interaction with him since I was a toddler basically but it still affects me. I don’t know. It’s some false hope I hang on to.” Remus admitted to him.

“One time he took me fishing and it was nice. Like, there wasn’t any strange wisdom he passed down. He didn’t get all philosophical. We just went fishing and it was the best day I ever had with him.” Sirius sniffed and slid off of Remus’ lap but kept his legs draped over Remus’ thighs. “I always wanted that all the time.”

“I’m sorry.” Remus took his hand, turning it over. Lightly he ran his nails from the tips of his fingers down to the end of his forearm then back up. “You deserved better parents.”

“You deserved a better dad.” Sirius said, feeling Remus’ blunt nails trailing ever so lightly over his skin. It was grounding.

“You have the Potters, they care for you.”

“If it weren’t for them, I’d be drowning right now. I’d be far more lost.” Sirius closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I think I’d be slightly lost without you too.”

“We’re strange. Not everyone runs for Congress. Not everyone gets it. Plus, daddy issues.” Remus brought Sirius’ hand up to his face and kissed Sirius’ palm. Sirius opened his eyes, watching the man press his lips to the center of his palm once more.

“Do you have any memories of your dad?”

Remus shook his head as he continued to trail his fingers up and down his . “Not one. It sucks, but I’ve dealt with it in therapy. Speaking of, how do you like Poppy?”

Sirius smiled. “She’s great.” He had been seeing for over a month now. It was good to talk to someone who wasn’t judging him, and who could offer him some tools to get through things. The whole process of going to therapy felt helpful to him. “Thanks for giving me her information.”

“No problem.”

Eventually they watched Parks and Recreation before going to bed. Sirius was sure they were going to hook up but Remus barely even kissed him outside of a few pecks. Though when he put his glasses on that earned Sirius a few deep kisses. When Sirius climbed into bed to find Remus looking at the current book he was reading, The Huntress, but got distracted by Sirius.

“Oh my god, why are you so turned on by them?” Sirius joked before taking the book from Remus’ hands.

“I don’t know, I think they look nice on you.” Remus pushed Sirius’ hair back.

“Wait til I grow my hair out and get a motorcycle.”

“Oh, sexy bad boy with nerdy glasses. Hot. Will you wear a leather jacket?”

“For you, possibly.” Sirius set the book on his night stand then turned his light off, sending the room into darkness. He took his glasses off and put them on top of his book then cuddled up with Remus. “Thanks for coming and taking my minds off of things.”

“It’s what friends do.” Remus yawned. “Tomorrow, we’ll go for a run and maybe have breakfast. Then I’ll leave you and hopefully you’ll feel a little better than you did when I got here this afternoon.”

Sirius hoped for that too. And yes, he did feel better by the time Remus left after they ate their eggs and smoothies. It wasn’t the best he ever felt, but it was all right. Without Remus, he wondered what he would have done the night before. Sirius probably would have gone over to James and Lily’s apartment and not spoke a word about it all.

Not that he didn’t talk to James and Lily, but sometimes there were things they didn’t understand. Remus understood those dark little parts of him. The feeling of that understanding made him feel warm inside. He told this in some sort of edited version to James and Lily later that night over dinner at Antonio’s.

“You love him.” Lily smiled at him softly from across the table. “You do realize that, right?”

“I can’t love him.” Sirius shook his head. “That’s ridiculous. He’s just a good friend.”

“A friend who came over and sat with you and talked with you all night last night to make me feel better.”

“You would have done it.” Sirius pointed out to them.

“I wouldn’t have kissed you like he did. Probably wouldn’t have made you feel the same way either.” James explained to him.

“Right, that’s all well and good, but I can not love Remus.” Sirius drummed his fingers on the table. “You get that, right? If we dated my family would go out of their freaking way to destroy him. Plus, I’m not even close to being okay right now. I’m not sure it’s the best idea for me to be dating.”

“Give Remus what you can right now. I’m sure he’s worried about dating too. You both have a lot of upheaval happening, but that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to be loved or to love one another right now. If you want it, you can have it.”

Sirius groaned because he wasn’t sure what he wanted. It was bad enough that he was trying to find his way in life, now that throw in the terrible infatuation with Remus J. Lupin. Being with Remus was everything he was looking for:

> 1. **Intellectual Stimulation:** Who else would have let Sirius talk shop with him right after sex and laugh about it but join right in?  
>  2\. **Humor:** Remus liked when Sirius made puns. He also was insanely witty and sarcastic.  
>  3\. **Comfort:** The whole last night was an excellent example of this.  
>  4\. **Sexual Chemistry:** Any time the were together, Sirius had a hard time keeping is hands off of Remus. But Remus also respected Sirius’ boundaries.  
>  5\. **Shared Interest:** Politics, music, books, etc  
>  6\. **Being able to share silences**  
>  7\. **Fucking handsome**

Why couldn’t Remus come along at a different time? Why couldn’t they have just fallen in love after all this shit? Sirius probably wouldn’t be where he was without him though. It would have been a lot different.

“I know I can have it, I’m just worried about if either of us are ready for it.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a surprise party, but Sirius thinks it's something else.

> _Lockhart — 46%_  
>  _Lupin — 53%_  
>  _Undecided — 1%_

Remus pressed a path of kisses across Sirius’ clavicle. This was the fourth morning in a row they woke up together. It was beginning to be a habit. A habit that Remus was a very big fan of on one hand, and on the other completely terrified over. There were no time for feelings and relationships at this point in his life. Yet, here he was with Sirius in his bed, kissing him awake and looking fondly at Sirius’ sleepy smile.

Since Sirius’ father passed away Remus and Sirius had been spending more and more time together. Remus couldn’t figure out if the other man was looking to fill his time or something else. The something else being actually a couple. They never spoke about that. It was established when this all started, that they were just friends who happened to sleep together and that was it. Neither of them have brought up other wise since, and Remus was terrified to do so.

Things weren’t great for either of them to start to fall in love. There was so much to deal with on both ends. For instance, Sirius couldn’t go to the funeral to say goodbye to his father, which was shitty no matter how fraught their relationship. His mother actually had people make sure Sirius was turned away. That day, Sirius came to Remus and Peter’s completely wasted and ended up passed out in their bathroom before dinner. Remus took care of him, and Peter was a good friend and did what he could.

After the funeral was when they started to spend more and more time with one another. It was a steady, almost expected thing. Thankfully, the only other person to know about it was Peter, well and Mary, but neither of them said a word to the others in Remus’ life. It was good because Remus didn’t want to explain it to his team. Even worse, he didn’t want to explain it to the public. What the hell was that going to be like if they ever came out with it?

The only real reason why no one from the staff knew, was because Remus declare his apartment off limits for campaign purposes. He said it was to give them all some separation from work and personal stuff, but it was mainly because Sirius had been dropping in more and more. Peter didn’t care much that the other man was around so much, really he was spending more and more time over Mary’s.

“You’re too pleasant this morning, I can’t stand it. I need coffee. I couldn’t fall asleep last night.”

“Mmm, yeah, yeah, sure coffee.” Remus sucked on the spot right below Sirius’ Adam’s Apple. “I’m normally not awake before you.”

“I know when you are you’re too pleasant. You don’t listen very well.”

“I listen really well.” He moved to hover his lips right above Sirius’. “Do you want me to get you coffee?”

“No, I’m fine. Keep kissing me.”

Remus chuckled, running his hand through Sirius’ hair but not moving to kiss the other man. It was really unfair how attractive that Sirius was.

“What are you doing tonight?” Sirius leaned up to kiss the tip of Remus’ nose. “Want to watch more of the West Wing?”

“Yes, I do, but I can’t.” Remus sighed before nipping at Sirius’ bottom, pouty lip. “I have an event at the Museum of Science. Some Women in STEM thing.”

“You don’t identify as a women nor do you work in the field of science. I’m slightly confused.” Sirius raised an eyebrow, running a hand down Remus’ back.

“I don’t know, they invited me there because they like me.” Remus sat up and stretched out. “I’m not even speaking, but they asked me to be there. So, I’m going to support ladies kicking ass in STEM.”

“That’s going to be good, I guess. That’s nice they invited you.”

“They asked me if I wanted to bring a date.” Remus laughed. He wished that he could invite Sirius to come with him. “If you wanted to go to that with me it might be—”

“A little too public, yeah.” Sirius reached over for his glasses on the side table. “Is Lockhart going to this thing?”

“No, he was not invited from what I understand.” Remus explained as Sirius put his glasses on and sat up. He yawned and Remus wanted to kiss him again. God, why was he always wanting to kiss him? It was inconvenient.

“I’m sure my mother, the puppet master, is trying to make sure he’s doing something tonight to counter-act this.”

“Do you think we’ll ever find out if your family is helping out Lockhart?” Remus was desperately curious to find out if it were true. He hoped that he would find out one day soon.

“Maybe if you lose, I don’t know. I prefer that not to happen though because you need to win over Lockhart. Maybe if I’m somehow outed as your boy toy.” Sirius smirked.

“Boy toy, really?” Remus snorted a laugh and scrunched his nose. “That’s bad. You are not my boy toy.” They were far more than sex to one another, Remus just had to figure out what that was — or how to deal with it.

“Oh, it could be worse, I think.” Sirius bit his lip and gave a little shrug. “But if they find this out what’s going on between us, I wouldn’t be surprised if I heard from them again.”

“What do you mean?”

“Maybe they’d try to blackmail me, saying I had to come back and apologize or they’d give you away. I don’t know, something along those lines wouldn’t surprise me.”

“Whatever happens, I hope that it’s not that.” Remus shook his head.

“Well, hopefully nothing happens at all and we make it through to election day with out incident. After that it will all be a little easier.”

“I hope so too.” Remus looked at the time on the clock behind Sirius. “All right. I have to get to the office so I don’t have time for a run. If I’m late today Marlene will string me up from the Zakim Bridge by my toes. She can be vicious.”

“All right, well, have fun not exercising. What’s on the docket for today outside of the STEM thing?”

“Marlene has some big strategy meeting planned this morning. Where on earth did she come from by the way? And how the fuck isn’t she in Washington?”

“She’s good, isn’t she? I have no doubt that Marls will be out there with the big boys one day soon.”

“I’m glad that she’s here to help now at least. I’d love to bring her to Washington with me if I get that far.” Remus sighed.

“You’ll get that far.” Sirius assured him.

Remus leaned across the bed to give Sirius one more kiss before he got up to get his day started.

After showering and changing, Remus went over to his office. Marlene lead a meeting on what they needed to conquer over the next 2 weeks and four days before the election. It was getting down to crunch time and they had a lot to get done.

When he was done with the meeting, they were going off to knock on some doors. Before they left, Remus got a text from a number that he didn’t recognize.

 **Unknown:**  
Hi! It’s James Potter.  
Wondering if you’d want to  
help me throw Sirius a party!  
I was thinking we could do the week  
before Halloween because I want  
it to be a surprise, so I was hoping  
we could do it at your place.

 **RL:**  
Hi James! That sounds good.  
You can use my place.  
Who would you invite?

 **JP:**  
Just Lily, me, Tonks, Uncle Al, Rich  
I’d say his brother but…

 **RL:**  
We can try.

 **JP:**  
You should invite Marlene and everyone  
that came out to Newport.  
Sirius will like that.

Remus frowned as he read the texts again. Sirius really didn’t have many friends, did he? Then again, why or how could you have real, true friends when you grow up in a family like the Blacks. Remus never had trouble making friends or having friends. He had plenty in his life, and had a few really close ones now as well as plenty of acquaintances.

With his personality, Sirius should have had friends or decent enough acquaintances all over the place. All he really had was James and Lily. He couldn’t even count on his brother at the moment. Remus wasn’t sure what to say to that. Thankfully, Remus’ friends and his team liked Sirius and wanted to take him in.

“What’s going on? You look sad.” Marlene glared at him.

“I’m not sad.” Remus laughed. “James just texted me asking if we could throw Sirius a surprise party for his birthday. It’s the day before the election, but James wants to have the party like a week before to throw him off.”

“Oh! Yes!” Alice said excitedly. “That’d be awesome. Let’s do it.”

“We don’t have time to plan.” Hestia complained.

“Right, now eat, sleep, breathe the election.” Remus shook his head. “Bad enough we did that Newport weekend.”

Hestia rolled her eyes. “I’m just saying that we don’t have a lot of time.”

“I’m sure that James will be happy to plan it. I’ll let him know that we’ll do it.”

“Fine.” Hestia waved a hand. “Make the text quick. We have to go.”

***

A little over a week later, Sirius’ hand snaked up Remus’ thigh as his tongue lapped at the other man’s entrance. Honestly, Sirius’ goal wasn’t to give Remus a rimjob this morning, but it happened. It all started because Remus woke him up with kisses the other morning that turned into a blow job. This morning, Sirius decided he should wake Remus up properly. Since the man slept on his stomach, this was the best way to do so.

“Fuck, Sirius,” Remus rasped as Sirius wrapped a hand around his now hard cock as his tongue prodded against Remus. Sirius swiped his thumb over the bead of precome at the slit then stroked his hand down as his tongue continued to sweetly torture Remus.

There was a moment where Sirius thought about fucking Remus, but he really enjoyed getting Remus off this way. When they other man began to thrust his hips and let out little desperate noises, Sirius picked up the pace of his hand and worked his tongue even more. Soon enough, Remus was coming, gripping the sheets between his fingers.

Sirius sat back, reaching for a tissue to wipe his hand off.

“Mmm, lemme repay you back.” Remus said but was still laying nearly face down on the bed. The only reason why Sirius could understand him was because Remus turned his head just a little bit to speak.

“No, go back to sleep. I’m going to shower. I have breakfast plans with James and Lily, and then Andi and Ted are taking me to lunch today.”

“But it’s your birthday. I should—”

“My birthday is in over a week from now.”

“I know but it’s close enough.” Remus muttered. “Busy day.”

“Yes, busy day. What are you doing tonight?” Sirius hated that he was asking this. He really should get a new hobby other than spending time with Remus.

“I’m not sure yet, might be going out with Peter and Mary. How about I text you when I know what’s going on?”

“Sounds good.” Sirius leaned forward and kissed Remus’ cheek. “I’ll go jerk off in your shower now.”

“Have fun. Sure you don’t want a hand?” Remus yawned.

“No, go back to sleep.” He got out of bed and pulled the comforter back over Remus. Sirius was sure the other man was back asleep by the time he was across the hallway in the shower.

After his shower and changing, Sirius grabbed his overnight bag and went to head out. Peter was sitting a the island in the middle of kitchen having coffee while scrolling through his phone.

“Morning, Pete.” Sirius said cheerily.

“Morning, coffee?”

“No thanks, off to breakfast with James and Lily.”

“Where to?”

“Beat.”

“Nice, they have good chocolate cake, Moony loves it.” Peter pointed out.

“Maybe I’ll get him a piece.” Sirius pondered. “Where are you guys thinking of going tonight?”

“Um, no where.” Peter looked thoroughly confused.

“Oh, Remus said that—”

“Right! Oh yeah, we’re going out. Right.” Peter said quickly in a strange way. “Forgot.”

“Okay, I’ll see you at some point.”

Peter said his goodbyes and Sirius was off, feeling strange about the whole situation. Why on earth was Remus lying about hanging out with Peter? That wasn’t a normal reaction from Peter. He had seen the man forget things before, it was weird. What on earth was he hiding from Sirius?

What if Remus was seeing someone other than Sirius? But they weren’t really seeing one another. Sirius was his friend, and they just happened to hook up with one another from time to time. They never established that they weren’t going to have sex with anyone else. If Sirius wanted to say they were never going to have sex with anyone else while they were hooking up, was that not dating?

“What is going on with you?” James complained as their breakfast was set in front of them. “You’re being spacey. Is everything all right?”

“It’s nothing.” Sirius brushed it off, the Potters were already encourage him to get his feelings. It was stupid.

“It’s not nothing, Sirius, I know you well enough. I understand you’re in this strange place right now, but something else is going on.”

Sirius made a face because James did know him well enough. The fact that they had known each other so long was somewhat annoying in this situation. “I think Remus might be seeing someone.”

“What?” Lily looked surprised. “I know you two aren’t dating, but you totally are dating. Plus, why would he want to start dating someone who isn’t you during the election? Didn’t he say that he didn’t even want to go near a relationship because of that?”

“Yeah, but he told me he was going to hang out with Mary and Peter tonight then Peter got all weird when I saw him as I was walking out the door.”

Lily laughed, “I don’t know Peter well but he can be a little forgetful.”

“Yeah, but something still doesn’t seem right.”

“You should maybe talk to Remus about it.”

“Mmm, yeah.” Sirius sighed, he was probably going to be called over for a late night booty call as usual. Maybe Remus was already seeing someone.

> **RJLupin — 2 hrs ago**  
>  _1 week and 3 days until the election. I won’t stop working hard after November 3rd, I’m just getting started. What’s the most important issue that we’re facing in your opinion?_

Sirius got a text from Remus saying that he wasn’t going to go out with Peter and Mary, and asked Sirius to come over to marathon the Captain America movies. At first he almost said no out of spite because he was jealous over this person that Remus may have been seeing. Then he decided to go over and try to pry it out of Remus if he was seeing another person. Sirius should have just asked Remus what the whole thing was this morning.

Maybe Remus wasn’t seeing anyone because he didn’t go out like he said he was going to. Or maybe he was stood up or something. Who knew. Sirius probably wasn’t going to know either, he figured as he climbed the steps to Remus and Peter’s apartment in Somerville. There needed to be some sort of boundaries set up with Remus soon, or Sirius figured he was going to get his heart broken. Sirius really did not want to talk about any of that.

Only thirty seconds after Sirius knocked, Remus opened the door. He wasn’t in sweatpants like Sirius assumed he would be. He was in nice jeans and a shirt that was tight enough to hug his body in all the right ways. Any thoughts of talking went right out the door when Sirus looked at him.

“Hey.” Remus pulled him inside, but instead of kissing him, he pulled Sirius into the living room/kitchen.

“God your in a — “

“SURPRISE!”

Sirius was shocked to see Tonks, James, Lily, Al, Rich, Peter, Mary, and all of Remus’ core team/friends that came down to Newport. So, the comment about it being Sirius’ birthday was Remus letting something out and then Peter not going along with Remus’ lie… Remus really wasn’t seeing anyone else.

“Guys!”

“We got you, totally got you.” James said giving him a big hug.

“Still worried he’s seeing someone?” Lily whispered in his ear when she gave him a hug.

“Fuck off.” Sirius laughed.

They ate, danced, chatted, and then did Sirius’ birthday cake. Al and Rich left after that, leaving the younger group behind. Sirius watched Fleur twirl Tonks around the room and Peter dip Mary as they danced to the music that had been turned on. Everyone was having a good time, but it was getting warm and Sirius desperately wanted a cigarette.

“Want to step out for a second? I’m dying for a cigarette.” Sirius asked Remus, leaning close to him so he could hear. He needed to quit but now was not the moment.

“Sure. Can I bum one?”

“Of course.” Sirius grabbed his hand and dragged Remus out on the small balcony of Remus’ apartment. It was old, and Sirius worried for safety just a tiny bit.

“It got stuffy in there fast.” Remus laughed as the cool air hit them. “Are you having a good time?”

“I’m having an amazing time.” Sirius grinned as he took two cigarettes out. “I had no idea.”

“It was all James. He just asked for my apartment. Marlene wouldn’t let us plan anything because we’re only eating, sleeping, and drinking campaign. Her and Hestia look like they want to be anywhere but here right now.” Remus chuckled, scrunching up his nose.

They really did, both of them had been talking in the kitchen when Remus and Sirius stepped out. They were talking and looking somewhat annoyed. Marlene didn’t even want to dance when Dorcas asked. At least Dorcas didn’t look mad about it because she went right to dance with Tonks and Fleur.

“No one has ever thrown me a party like this.” Sirius smiled. “I thought this morning…” He trailed off because he was afraid to say anything.

“What?” Remus frowned.

“Peter got flustered this morning because he said you weren’t going out with him and Mare at first. I thought maybe you were lying to me for some stupid reason.”

Remus rolled his eyes as Sirius lit a cigarette. “Peter is a worse liar than me.”

“I could tell that.” Sirius laughed, handing the cigarette to Remus.

“I was lying, but for a very good reason.”

“The best reason. The only thing that is missing is Regulus.” Sirius said, somewhat surprising himself as he lit the other cigarette. Sirius was trying his best not to think about Regulus tonight. He was doing his best to push it all down and away. The only time he really talked about it was with Poppy when he went to go to his weekly meetings.

“I’m sorry.” Remus reached out with his free hand and stroked his cheek.

“I just have to hope that he’ll come around.” Sirius took a drag. “But I’m happy right now. I’m so happy here with you all.”

Remus leaned forward and pressed his lips to Sirius’. It was chaste at first then turned deeper, his tongue sliding into Sirius’ mouth. Remus’ kisses tasted like frosting and cigarettes, not something that should be remotely good, but it was Remus so it was good. Sirius wanted _more more more_ , but there were people in the living room.

“Let’s finish our cigarettes.” Remus suggested planting another kiss on Sirius’ lips. “After, we’ll dance, and later I can give you a nice birthday gift.”

Sirius laughed as Remus snaked an around his waist. “Okay, that sounds like a good plan.”

So, that’s what they did. When they finished their cigarettes they went back inside and Remus twirled Sirius around the living room. They sang the songs loudly and drank more. Eventually everyone else went home, and Peter and Mary went to bed and Remus took Sirius to his room for another wonderful birthday gift.


	13. Chapter 13

> _Lockhart — 48%_   
>  _Lupin — 51%_   
>  _Undecided — 1%_

“Remus! Sirius! Wake the fuck up!” Marlene was basically screaming down the hallway, causing both Remus and Sirius to jolt up in bed. “I’m coming in whether you’re both clothed or not.”

Remus rubbed his forehead. The night before had been perfect. Sirius’ party went off without a hitch. Then the after bit was really Remus’ favorite part. Looking at the clock, he found that they had only been sleeping for 3 hours. “What is it, Marlene?”

“This is it!” She came crashing through the door. Remus was sure the door was going to come off the hinges when it was flung open. Marlene looked murderous and ready to get some blood. She was waving her iPad around as if Remus understood what was going on without being able to look at it.

“We can’t see it when you’re waving the thing around.” Sirius said in a calm voice next to him.

“Here!” She shoved it in Remus’ face.

Remus took the iPad as Sirius reached for his glasses. “Holy fucking shit.” Remus said, looking at a picture of him and Sirius making out on his balcony the night before.

> **KatieGlass — 20 mins ago**   
>  _Remus Lupin and Sirius Black were pictured kissing. The image was leaked to various media outlets. No comment from either camp yet._

“You’re fucking kidding me.” Sirius grabbed the iPad from Remus’ hands.

The feeling in Remus’ stomach was not a good one. It felt like he was going to be sick and it had nothing to do with being hungover. The fact that he was kissing Sirius shouldn’t make any difference in the election, but it could. Sirius was a Black. Sirius had dropped out very dramatically after running against Remus. Sirius’ parents were probably going to run a brutal assault on Remus and his ideals.

“Why — what — how…”

“There’s pictures of you running and laughing together too from the last week as well.” Marlene was pacing now, running hand through her blond bob. “The other side isn’t saying anything yet. We haven’t said anything. The Blacks haven’t spoke up just yet either.”

“What are we going to say?” Remus asked her because he wasn’t sure what the should say.

“That you’re friends, you became friends after Sirius dropped out. There was a party last night and you kissed. You’re dating now. That was the progression.”

“We are?” Sirius said in a surprised tone.

“You have to date, or at least we have to say that you’re dating. I don’t give a fuck.” Marlene corrected herself.

“Why?” Remus furrowed his brow. “It shouldn’t matter if we’re dating or not, Marlene.”

“It does!”

“Ugh.” Remus closed his eyes tight. He wanted to go back a few hours and not kiss Sirius on his porch. “Fuck. We’re not dating though.”

“You’re not? Really? Do you really want me to dig into that right now because I’d love to?” She glared at them both. “You need to have that conversation right now so we can put out a statement. If you’re not going to date, then whatever, we’ll figure it out.”

“We don’t have to because it shouldn’t matter.” Remus shook his head. “I’m not going to lie or force anything to be something it’s not because I want to win.”

“I’m going to fucking kill you.” Marlene took her iPad. “What are you going to say then?”

“I don’t know.” Remus rubbed his eyes.

“Get dressed and get down to the office. Everyone is going to be in and we’re going to figure out how to run damage control on this.” She stomped out of the room, slamming the door closed behind her.

“Shit.” Sirius put a hand on Remus’ back. “I’m so sorry, Remus. I - I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Remus paused. “I mean, it’s not fine at all because the election is currently hanging in the balance. But this isn’t your fault at all. We should have been more aware of the possibility of something like this happening.”

“We were having a good night.” Sirius all but whispered. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m not sure, Sirius.”

Remus wanted to tell everyone the truth, but he knew that not everyone would take it easily that he was just fucking Sirius and having a nice casual relationship with him. Then again, that would be a lie too because he had feelings for Sirius. These feelings were real, and not going away. He still wasn’t ready to admit it. Remus was partly sure that Sirius wasn’t ready for it either.

What was going to happen after the election if Remus won? Was Sirius going to really want to do a long distance relationship with Remus? Was Remus going to have enough time to give some of to Sirius? He didn’t want to break Sirius’ heart because he couldn’t give him what he wanted or needed or deserved.

“Well, I won’t say a thing unless you want me to. It’s up to you and the team. I’ll do what you guys think is best.” Sirius said, running a hand through his hair.

“I think Marlene will want us to get married and start adopting some children as soon as possible to get the more conservative democratic base on our side.”

“I wouldn’t doubt that.” Sirius laughed and leaned his forehead on Remus’ shoulder. “We should probably take some space right now.”

Remus’ heart dropped. Taking space was a term for breaking up when you weren’t dating someone, right? It wasn’t something that Remus wanted. The less space the better at this point. The more in depth their relationship got, the better. “Space, yeah, sure.”

“It’s nothing to do with you, Remus. I want you to win. If we’re spotted together, or if someone sees me leaving here looking a mess one morning, god forbid, what are those news stories going to look like?”

“You’re right.” Remus admitted begrudgingly. If they weren’t going to dive in and be in a ‘proper’ relationship, then being in no relationship at all was going to have to be the answer. “Sirius this sucks and I’m sorry that you’re back in the news cycle.”

“I was out of it outside of a few side notes.” Sirius laughed as he moved to get out of bed. “Even my mentions on Twitter had gone down. It was bound to happen at some point, right?”

“I don’t know, I guess.” Remus watched Sirius pick up his clothes. “You should borrow at least a shirt of mine. They’re going to see you wearing the same shirt out if they’re looking for you.”

“That’s a good idea.” Sirius went over to Remus’ closet. “You’re going to still win, Remus. I know that it seems like I’m just saying that to you right now to make you feel better, but I can feel it.”

Remus smiled, hoping that Sirius feelings were right. “I hope that you’re right.”

“Good because you deserve it, Remus. Now get your ass up and get dressed because you’re going to get your ass reamed by Marlene.”

“Mmm, not in a good way either.” Remus sighed. Everything seemed more preferable than having to go figure this all out with Marlene and the rest of his team. The fact that his sex life was going to be plastered everywhere was not exactly what he wanted.

Sirius laughed. “No, not in a good way.”

“This wasn’t how I thought this morning was going to go. I was hoping we could do brunch and drink one too many mimosas then come back here and…”

“Yeah.” Sirius sighed. “That would have been much more preferable.”

After Sirius left, Remus went right over to the campaign office. Alice, Frank, Fleur, Charlie, Bill, Dorcas, Marlene, and Hestia were there already looking slightly hungover and harassed. It didn’t get any better when they got a new alert. One that made Remus’ stomach to another series of flips.

> _**Walburga Black Says: “He seduced my son”** _
> 
> _The matriarch are the now embattled Black Political Dynasty has made a statement about the recent news of Remus Lupin, who is running for representative for the 7th district and her son Sirus Black, who had been running for the same seat._
> 
> _Walburga believes that her son was seduced by Mr. Lupin, “He was never like this before. It wouldn’t surprise me if Remus Lupin took advantage of my son’s kind heartedness. I want to know what he has on him.”_
> 
> _The Lupin campaign has yet to comment on these allegations. More to follow._

“I seduced her son? What the fuck?” Remus pushed back from the table and stood up.

“Remus, Sirius wouldn’t have maybe —”

“Don’t even finish that sentence.” Remus glared at Marlene, knowing she was going to accuse him of something. “Don’t say what you’re going to say.”

“He misses his brother, right? What if he wants him back? What if he feels like he’s made a mistake?”

“I can’t believe you’re even thinking that.” Remus shook his head. He didn’t want to believe that train of thought. “That’s terrible.”

“Remus, it’s a possibility. Also, this proves to me that fucking Walburga was behind Lockhart’s campaign this whole damn time.”

“But it’s not true.” He practically roared. “Sirius wouldn’t.”

“I hope not.” Frank said biting his lip.

“We need to make a statement.” Marlene said. “Now.”

***

**Remus Lupin**   
**Press Release**

_Running for office does force your whole life into the public sphere, but it does not mean it is okay to be slandered. Statements that have been released today by Mrs. Black and Gilderoy Lockhart are not only false but incredibly inflammatory._

_My relationship with Sirius Black was a friendly one from after our debate until the other night. Mr. Black and myself are not dating. We are not a couple, and that should not matter either way._

_I did not seduce Sirius Black, and in no way did I manipulate him to leave the Black family. Sirius was the one to make these choices all on his own, and as a friend I supported him._

_With one week and a day until the election, it’s imperative that we focus on the what truly matters._

***

> **SiriusBlack — 12 hrs ago**   
>  _It’s disgusting to say what has been said about Remus and what others think he did to me. I was manipulated, but it was by my own family. Remus was a good friend to me in a time I needed one. 1/2_
> 
> **SiriusBlack — 12 hrs ago**   
>  _The other night we had too much fun at my birthday party. It happens with adults sometimes. Remus is a great person, and honest and really cares about people. Don’t let this smear campaign sway you from the real issues here. 2/2_

Sirius did what he was getting surprisingly good at as of late: running away. After leaving Remus’ on Sunday morning he packed his things and drove all the way up to Maine to stay with Andi and Ted outside of Portland. He felt like he needed to get away from everyone and everything in Boston at the moment. It felt like if he stayed, he’d ruin things even further.

When he saw the picture and tweet about he and Remus, it felt like everything was falling to pieces. Sirius was sure that he had messed up Remus’ chances of winning because he couldn’t keep his hands and mouth off the man for a minutes. Then again Remus did initiate the kiss, but that shouldn’t matter. If Sirius just controlled himself and kept his distance from Remus to begin with, then it wouldn’t have mattered.

Andi and Ted were happy to have him there. Andi understood why Sirius needed the space. She knew the Blacks well enough. Sirius wondered if she was hoping that he would move up there with them. There was zero chance because he had no idea how anyone lived in the middle of nowhere Maine. It took too long to even get to Portland.

It wasn’t long after that he got to his cousin’s place, that he found out his mother and Lockhart were speaking about his and Remus’ relationship. It made no sense to the fact that they were running this way. This type of attack could really destroy Lockhart. Sirius wondered if either A. He had no idea how people would actually react nowadays or B. His mother and Lockhart had no idea how people would actually react nowadays. Sirius was really hoping that it was B.

Sirius made his own little statement in hopes to help point people in the right direction. He could see why people were interested in his and Remus’ relationship. It was a piece of juicy gossip. Fallen Black heir leaps into the arms of his opponent — that’s a good story. Sirius just wished that people wouldn’t cling on to it and have it change their view of Remus and his ideas.

Keeping up with the polls and looking on Twitter, it didn’t seem to sway or change many people’s minds. Most people were either with Remus or not, no matter what was being said about it his relationship with Sirius. There seemed to be many people calling for Remus to bring a civil lawsuit against Walburga and Lockhart. Sirius hoped the polls and what he was seeing were right.

In the days following the pictures being released and all hell breaking loose and Sirius running, Sirius spent most of his days hiking. He figured didn’t want a thing to do with the beach, so he went inland. Walking tough terrain by himself. It wasn’t as good as the beach, but it helped clear his head. The cool air was a bit too cold sometimes, and on the higher peaks snow was already beginning to fall. It was nice to look at.

Sirius didn’t hear from Remus. James, Lily, Peter, Marlene, Tonks, and Uncle Al all tried to get in touch with him, but he ignored them all. Andi and Ted were lucky if they conversed for more than five minutes at a time with Sirius. Sirius knew he was isolating himself, and it probably wasn’t good, but he couldn’t get himself to go back.

The day before the election, it was pouring down rain. Sirius needed to get back to the city tomorrow to vote, but he wasn’t sure if he was going to stay after that. Maybe he’d go to the Potter’s place in California to escape the winter. Or, he could buck up and go talk to Remus about how he couldn’t stop thinking about him for more than five minutes at a time.

Sitting in the heated sunroom of Andi and Ted’s he was surprised to hear a car pull up. It was the middle of a Monday. Ted was busy being a professor at some small liberal arts school and Andi was in Portland doing her lawyer thing. Sirius was meant to have the house to himself for at least three more hours.

Standing up, he heard the car door close and as he got to the door he found Regulus walking up the driveway. Sirius scrambled to unlock and open the door. This was the last person he thought would come up to drag him home. He hadn’t heard from Regulus since he left the election in August.

“Reggie?” He said with a laugh because he thought he was seeing things. “Are you here for good or bad reasons?”

“Ah, are you asking if I left the family or if I’m here to take you back?”

Sirius hoped that it was the former.

“I left the fucking family, Sirius.” Regulus said as he climbed up the three steps to the door.

Instead of stepping aside, Sirius wrapped his arms around Regulus and gave him a big hug. It was as if a weight was lifted off of his shoulders. “I’m so proud of you Sirius.”

“Yeah, well, now I have no clue what I’m going to do with my life.”

“You’re in a great club, Reg.” Sirius let go of his brother and they went into the house. “I mean, it’s a shitty fucking club but now we’re in it together. What made you leave?”

Regulus huffed a breath as they sat down on the couch. “Well, it started when Mother wouldn’t let you come to the funeral.”

Sirius cringed, remember the feeling of being led out at his father’s own funeral. It was probably what hurt the most these last few months. “Yeah, well, that was crap. Then when she kept having Lockhart and his people—”

“Fucking knew it and Marlene was right.”

“Yeah, I told the Lupin campaign that and she screamed about how she was right.” Regulus mad a face.

“What, you went to Lupin’s office?” Sirius looked at hi brother in surprise.

“I thought they would know where you were. I — Mother took my phone away the other night. I think she knew I was going to leave and try to contact you. Since I didn’t have a phone and I did not memorize your number, so I thought Lupin would know.”

“And they didn’t. No, they knew. Some blonde girl with a slight accent.”

“Fleur.” Sirius laughed. “She’s dating Tonks.”

“Really?” Regulus asked with a raised eyebrow. “I didn’t realize that she was a lesbian.”

“She’s pan, but yeah she likes girls too.” Sirius shrugged a shoulder. “So, Fleur told you I was up here?”

“Yeah, and I just drove up. You can’t stay here the rest of your life, can you? It’s awfully boring. Plus, Remus Lupin is in Boston just waiting for you to come and sweep him off his feet.”

“You really think that’s a good idea?” Sirius laughed.

“Those pictures were shitty quality because it was dark, but I’ve never seen two people look at each other like that without being in love.” Regulus pointed out to him. “It was so sweet I wanted to throw up. I thought you were going to come out saying you both were deeply in love.”

Sirius frowned, “Are you sure?”

“You two didn’t have that conversation? Like, at all?”

“Not really.”

“Oh, you need to go back there and get your man then. Come on, Sirius, you have your chance.”

“I think ruined my chance the moment I told Remus that we needed some space then I up and left Boston the other week.”

“I’m sure that he understands. The whole thing was a shit show.” Regulus made a face.

“You think so, I’ve ignored him since I left.”

“Well, he thought I’ve heard from you when I stopped by the office. He was very eager to ask. So, let’s go back to Boston so you can — er, canoodle Remus.”

“I don’t know, Reggie.” Sirius shook his head.

How was he going to do this? Sirius still wasn’t sure what he wanted. Was that going to be fair to Remus?


	14. Chapter 14

> _Lockhart — 48%_  
>  _Lupin — 51%_  
>  _Undecided — 1%_

Surprisingly enough, the news about Sirius and Remus didn’t change the polling numbers drastically, but they were still too close for Remus’ comfort. He didn’t have a secure victory by the time Tuesday November 3rd rolled around. All Remus had was hope (no, not his mother the actually feeling). Hope, plus the spirit of everyone around him including his mother.

The thing that he seemed to be missing the most was the morning texts from Sirius telling him he was enough. Well, really, he was missing Sirius all together. The other man didn’t answer his texts or calls once. Remus ached for Sirius, which was unfortunate because he shouldn’t have missed the other man so much if he didn’t have feelings for him, so he clearly had feelings. Feelings that he couldn’t communicate with Sirius because he was apparently in Maine.

Remus didn’t realize that Sirius was in Maine until Regulus walked into the Lupin Campaign Office yesterday looking for his brother. When Regulus walked in, Remus had to do a double take. He could have sworn it was Sirius for a moment. But Regulus’ eyes were more blue than grey and his features were bit more softer than Sirius’. He was still good looking, but not Sirius.

The man was apparently out of the Black family as well now. He didn’t do it in the flashy was that Sirius did it, but he seemed to be done. His main reason to come to the office was for Sirius, but he also informed that that Walburga was having Remus followed, and was working with Lockhart. Neither of those things surprised Remus.

Regulus thought that Remus would know where Sirius was, but of course he didn’t. Remus assumed the man was probably in Newport or wherever the Potters lived when it was cold. No rich people actually lived in Newport during the winter, right?

Fleur was the only one to know where Sirius really was. She said that Tonks mentioned that he was up in Maine with her parents the other day. Regulus left right after that, and Remus wondered if Regulus was going to run away up there with his brother. Remus also wondered if he could join them in the woods if he lost the election.

Losing the election in a deeply democratic district was going to kill him. He couldn’t think about overturning so many years of history because people didn’t see him as ready enough or too philandering because he had slept with Sirius and happened to be into men. Not that people knew they slept together, but Walburga wailed enough to get the conservatives all riled up.

Remus couldn’t think about all that yet, though. He needed to get it together because he was about to vote for himself. There were a lot of times he imagined the moment where he walked into the booth to fill in the bubble next to his name. Going to do it was completely surreal.

With his mom, who had already voted at her precinct, Remus walked into his own. He checked in, talked to the people working the voting place and thanked them for their work, and then took his ballot. The precinct was fairly busy, but it was a nice din of sound as he stood in the booth looking at the ballot. He decided to vote for everyone else first, Remus didn’t realize that was going to be something he needed to think about. But filling in the bubble next to his own name was important.

So first, he voted for Vance and Fenwick, who was battling it out with Riddle and Carrow at the moment. That race was going to be tight. Then he proceeded down the ballot, skipping his own name before going back. When he went back to his name he stared at it for a long time, rolling the pen between his fingers.

> **REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS**  
>  7TH DISTRICT  
>    
>  REMUS J. LUPIN DEMOCRATIC

There was an overwhelming urge to cry that he didn’t expect. He felt like Leslie Knope in Parks and Rec or AOC when she came out from voting and hugged her boyfriend and mom in Knock Down the House. Everything that took to get him to this moment was there, his whole history. All his hard work had led him to this time.

With one deep breath, Remus carefully filled in the bubble next to his name. It was the neatest he had ever done for anything the looked at the ballot again. Once he collected himself, went to turn the ballot into the machine then he found his mom to leave the polling place. Neither of them said anything, but about a block away Remus stopped with tears bubbling over.

“I just voted for myself.”

“I know.” Hope gave a soft laugh as she hugged her son. “I’m so proud of you, Remus.”

“I didn’t think I’d cry. I don’t cry.”

“It’s a lot.” She gave him a squeeze. “Come on, let’s get back to the office and finish out the campaign strong, what do you say?”

“All right, that sounds good.”

> **RJLupin — 3 hrs ago**  
>  _Polls close in about 3 hours from now! Get out the vote! **#VoteLupin #VanceFenwick2020**_

“This is the fucking worst.” Remus paced in the hotel room they were in. He wanted to do any celebration or whatever in the Pettigrew’s bar, but there were too many people who supported him for that to happen. They had to rent out a whole function hall in a hotel.

“The polls just closed, man, it’s okay.” Peter tried his best to sound positive.

“Have the called any race?” Remus questioned. The exit polls were looking good for the Democrats in general but Remus didn’t trust anything. Not until he saw the conclusive proof that they were going to win.

“No, they haven’t called any of the races yet.” His mother said calmly.

“It’s going to take a bit Remus,” Marlene told him but she looked as stressed out as he felt.

“I can’t thank people after I lost. It will look like crap. I’ll cry.” Remus decided that he was probably either going to cry or throw up either way — win or lose.

“Remus, chill the fuck out.” Dorcas took a sip of her drink. “Do you want a beer or wine or something to calm your nerves.”

“No, god, I can’t.” He shook his head.

“Okay, then stop panicking.”

Not panicking was easier said than it was done. The more time ticked by, the more Remus didn’t want to look at the results that were coming in. Every time someone said they had an update, Remus didn’t want to hear it. He didn’t want to hear anything until he either won or lost.

“Remus, they’re calling it!” Marlene yelled, turning up the volume of the TV.

Remus couldn’t believe his eyes because the green checkmark was under his name. “The 7th district’s seat is being called with 70% of precincts reporting. With 63% of the vote, Remus Lupin is now the the representative for the 7th District.”

After that, Remus couldn’t tell you what happened. It was a flurry of excitement. Screams, hugs, tears. Everyone in the hotel room, his main team and some of his best friends and his mom were all freaking out. He was going to Congress. Remus had managed to do it, even with the Black family trying to take him down. People wanted the change.

The only thing missing from that moment was Sirius. He wanted to share it with him, but he was sure that it was over.

“Come on, Remus, we need to make our victory lap.”

***  
**Except from Remus Lupin’s Victory Speech**

_Wow, thank you so much. I can’t believe it. Thank you. I wouldn’t have been able to be standing here in front of you tonight with out your help. This was truly a grassroots campaign. Just a few months ago I was working out of my apartment and then it seemed to grow overnight, thanks to everyone in this room._

_I am so grateful for my family, my friends, and to my dedicated team. I’m so thankful for the volunteers and for the voters who are done with the way things have been run in Washington these last four years. You are all disrupters, believers, resisters, persisters, and activists. You are the people that will change the country for the better._

_There is going to be a lot of discussion about this history of this moment. A Mexican-Irish-American bisexual man who was deemed a socialist taking office in Congress. History is important but it’s what we do from this moment on. I promise you that I will live up to your standards, and I hope that I can exceed them._

_My mother brought me up to care. She told me no matter how hard you have it, there’s someone who has it harder. Hope showed me how to give back and make changes by how she lives. She brought me to vote with her in every single election, trying to convey to me that our voice matters. That the people in power need to listen to the people. Tonight, I believe that more than ever…_

***

Sirius wanted to go to the victory party, but he also knew that the media was going to be all over it. Remus was a cinderella story who already had a bit of a scandal. There was no way that Sirius would have been able to slip in unnoticed. So, instead, he asked Tonks to tell him when they were going back to Remus’ apartment. She said the plan was party until 11 then after they would go back to the apartment.

Even though Sirius was still unsure about his future, he knew that he wanted Remus in it. He spent far too much time with the other man on his mind for it to just be proximity and passion. Regulus had dragged him out of Maine and brought him back to Boston to make sure that he didn’t fuck it up any longer.

“What if he doesn’t win?” Regulus asked as they stared at the screen. The polls had been closed for about two hours.

“He’s leading, look.” Sirius pointed to the screen. “They’re going to call it soon, I can feel it. He’s going to win.” Remus was up by 40 points, it was going to happen. Remus was going to Congress and Sirius hadn’t fucked it up for him.

“I can’t wait for you to do the whole romantic show up to the party thing. It’s going to be like a movie. I could do without seeing my brother make out with someone though.”

“No one has made out with anyone yet. I’m not even sure he’s going to forgive me.”

“You should have seen his face when I walked in. Pretty sure he thought I was you for a split second. Then he was very interested in hearing where you were hiding. He’s going to forgive you.”

Sirius nodded then his face split into a grin as the call went up for Remus. “The 7th district’s seat is being called with 70% of precincts reporting. With 63% of the vote, Remus Lupin is now the the representative for the 7th District.”

“Who would have thunk it.” Regulus clapped. “The man beat the machine.”

“Now that might earn him some making out.”

“Please keep it to yourself.” Regulus laughed. “Let’s have a drink to celebrate, huh?”

“Sounds good.”

Sirius’ nervous energy didn’t dissipate after Remus was declared the winner. There were plenty of Congressional races, and the race for President was still being duked out. Not to mention the fact that his love life was up in the air as well after he had pulled the disappearing act on Remus.

At 11:15, he got a message from Tonks that they were going over to Remus and Peter’s to continue the celebration. Sirius grabbed the gift bag that was on his counter, and he and Regulus went over to the apartment. The whole way, Sirius hoped that he wasn’t going to break his own heart.

“If he decides to shut the door in my face, promise me that you’ll only let me fall into a depression hole for like a week. I need to move on. Oh, and make sure that I get to therapy. I missed last week as it is.” Sirius declared as they walked up to the steps to Remus and Peter’s.

“He’s not going to reject you.”

“You never know!” Sirius said as he got to the door. He could hear everyone having a good time.

“All right Sirius, knock.”

***

“To Remus, the Congressman for the 7th district!” James held up his glass. It must have been the millionth time that someone cheered him.

Yes, James and Lily Potter had joined in on the celebrations. They had showed up to the party, along with Al and Rich, but they had headed home after the party at the hotel. It was only his main team/best friends along with the Potters and Tonks that came to his apartment with Peter and Mary.

“To Remus!”

Remus laughed, taking a sip of his champagne as there was a knock on the door. “I thought our neighbors moved out downstairs and it was vacant for the moment.”

“They did and it is.” Peter furrowed his brow. “I got it.”

“Maybe Al and Rich decided to come by.” Marlene said hopefully.

The last person that he expected with the other person right above the on the list were soon standing in the room. Sirius was looking bashful, almost, wearing a leather jacket and his glasses while carrying a small gift bag. Regulus was standing next to him, looking somewhat smug.

“Hi.”

“Sirius.” He stood up.

“Sirius is sorry he ran away like a little child. He’s back. Bearing gifts. Please keep the making out to a minimum.” Regulus rattled off.

“Beer?” Bill asked Regulus with a smile.

“Sure.”

Remus could feel everyone staring between him and Sirius, with the exception of Bill who was off to get a beer for Regulus. “Let’s talk in my room, please because, this.” Remus waved his hand at everyone.

“That sounds like an excellent idea.” Sirius said as Remus made his way towards the hallway. “Coming.”

Soon enough they were in Remus’ room while the rest of the group went back to talking and laughing. He was sure if he listened close enough, he’d find out that they were talking about them. Remus wanted to kiss Sirius, but he took a seat on his bed instead.

“Can you open this first because you should have it no matter what?” Sirius offered the blue bag to him.

Remus wasn’t sure what the no matter what was, but he took the bag that Sirius offered. “Yeah. Take a seat.”

As Remus pushed back the tissue paper, Sirus sat an arms length away from him. Inside the bag was a gray tee shirt that said, ‘Don’t Sleep With People Who Don’t Read’ and a mug with a West Wing reference, ‘I drink from the keg of glory’. “Ha, I love them.”

“I bought them both the other week. I figured win or lose, you’d want the shirt. I wouldn’t have given you the coffee mug though.”

“That’d be cruel.” Remus held the mug. “Where are the finest muffins and bagels in all the land?”

“They will be here tomorrow.” Sirus smile and shook his head.

“Are you being serious?”

“I’m always Sirius. But, yeah, I may have ordered and assortment of bagels and muffins. I want a picture of you with them and the mug. We’ll Tweet the whole West Wing crew. They’re always up for references.”

Remus set the mug down. “Thank you, Sirius. I—”

“Look to keep with the West Wing references and to keep my nerve up… Remus, I wouldn’t stop for red lights if you were in an accident.”

“Are you being the Donna to my Josh?” Remus shook his head. “I always thought that was a romantic quote.”

“It was. Look, I’m sorry I ran away. I thought that was what we both needed and wanted at the time.”

“It wasn’t.” Remus took Sirius’ hand. “I wanted you to stay and for us to figure it out. I’m an idiot for not speaking up and saying anything.”

“Well, I’m here and we can figure it out now.”

“I’m going to Washington.” Remus said with a frown.

“You are, but we’ll try our best. See what we can do. What I feel about you, it’s not going away. Believe me, I’ve tried to make it go away but it won’t. I ran all the way to Maine to try to get away from it. That didn’t even work.”

“God, that’s some effort. No one should run away to Maine.” Remus scoffed at the idea.

“Andi and Ted did, not sure how they did it.” Sirius chuckled.

“Didn’t run anywhere, and I tried too. When you said you were going to give me some space, I wanted to pull you back to the bed and tell you you weren’t going anywhere.”

“I wouldn’t have listened at the point. I think I needed the space.” Sirius shook his head. “I really like you Remus.”

“I really like you too, Sirius. This isn’t going to be easy.” He reminded the other man.

“Has anything about this been easy yet? The easiest part of the last few months is being with you.”

“That was the soppiest thing I’ve ever heard. I love it. Do you want to come be on my staff as a writer. You could work with Frank.” Remus joked, reaching his hand up to rest it on Sirius’ shoulder.

“No, I’ll stick with being your boyfriend if that’s okay.”

“That’s great.” Remus grinned, moving to press his lips to Sirius’.

The other man let out a little sigh when they parted a moment later. “I’m so happy.”

“Me too.” Remus kissed him quickly again. “By the way, I see what you’re doing with the jacket and the glasses. That’s a gift too.”

“Gotta get my motorcycle.”

“Come on, let’s go out there before they assume we’re fucking.”

“No, we’ll do that later.”

Out in the living room, the group was cheering and screaming. “I think Vance won.” Remus jumped off the bed and dragged Sirius out.

So, everyone was going to get a new start, including the country.

***

“The finest muffins and bagels in all the land!” Sirius declared as he presented the breakfast speared to everyone the next morning. The group had barely been away for a few hours but they all came back for breakfast to continue their celebration of Remus.

The celebration the night before lasted until 2:30 in the morning. Thankfully, everyone went home and left Remus and Sirius to celebrate on their own. Sirius was woken up at 10 by the delivery of the muffins, bagels, and other breakfast stuff. Remus stayed sleeping while Sirius got everything together, and invited everyone else over again.

Now they were all back standing in the kitchen and living room enjoying the food. Sirius did not miss the looks Bill and Regulus kept giving one another. It was a bit sickening, but he was happy for his little brother.

“I don’t get it.” Tonks said. “What’s with the mug and the food?”

“It’s a West Wing reference.” James informed her then pointed to Remus’ John Water’s shirt. “Nice shirt.”

“Thanks.” Remus said the kissed Sirius on the cheek before going for a bagel.

“Please don’t wear that out of the house.” Marlene shook her head. “It’s bad enough people are thinking about where you dick goes since you were caught with your tongue down Sirius’ throat.”

“Pity, it’s an important message.” Sirius chuckled before taking a bite of his blueberry muffin. “Also, can I just say again for the hundredth time that I’m so happy I didn’t ruin your campaign. I would have been gutted if you lost because of me.”

“You think too much of yourself.” Remus joked, winding an arm around Sirius’ waist.

“You two are so gross, I love it.” Alice grinned at them.

Sirius loved it too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Thank you for reading! I love this story so much!
> 
> -Remus' speech was heavily influenced by the real rep for the 7th district, Ayanna Pressley (LOVE HER)
> 
> -Keep an eye out for the next installment of this story. It's going to happen VERY SOON (LIKE DAY OR TWO). Here's a sneaky peak:
> 
> “Dad!!!” Teddy came flying into the bedroom. “Guess what?”
> 
> “What is it, Ted?” Remus asked as he son came to climb on to the bed next to the luggage Remus was packing.
> 
> “Harry says his mom and dad got a dog.” Teddy bounced on the bed.
> 
> “That’s great, Teddy.” Remus already knew this, of course, because he had spoke with James the day before. “We’re still not getting a dog.”
> 
> “But dad.”
> 
> “But Teddy. I’m a little busy and you’re not old enough to take care of a puppy on your own yet.” Remus reminded his son.
> 
> Teddy pouted, sticking out his bottom lip. “Fine.”
> 
> “When you’re older, I promise.” He kissed his son on the forehead as the door opened.
> 
> “Mr. President, it’s time to leave. The motorcade’s ready and Air Force One is already waiting for us.” Remus’ personal aide, Cho, informed him.

**Author's Note:**

> [Remus' Mood Board](https://marlenemckinn.tumblr.com/post/186033030478/remus-lupin-mood-board-for-things-which-mean)   
>  [Sirius' Mood Board](https://marlenemckinn.tumblr.com/post/186033586593/sirius-black-mood-board-for-things-which-mean)
> 
> *This was going to be 15 chapters but when I was trying to write the epilogue it felt forced. Don't be surprised if you see more from this universe at a later date*


End file.
